Summary: The real shift is that more and more companies are realizing something: selling into overseas markets and building a sustainable business abroad are two entirely different things. It has little to do with Chinese brands suddenly falling in love with opening stores.
1. The channel hasn't changed much — what's changed is the goal of going global
In the last wave of Chinese companies going overseas, the typical playbook was straightforward: lean on mature domestic supply chains, and sell products quickly abroad through Amazon, independent websites, or social media ads. It was efficient, asset-light, and it did produce a generation of successful cross-border sellers. But the core of this model was still "remote transactions" — the market, the team, customer service and decision-making largely stayed in China, with the overseas market serving only as a point of sale.
As platform rules tightened, advertising costs rose, and competition became more homogeneous, companies quickly ran into a shared bottleneck: consumers remembered the product but not the brand; orders reached Europe, but trust, service and organizational capability didn't follow.
So the change worth paying attention to today has little to do with "moving online to offline." What's really shifting is the goal of going global itself: companies are moving from one-off transactions toward long-term operations, no longer chasing short-term GMV alone, and instead investing seriously in brand recognition, channel relationships, local service and a replicable market organization.
I prefer to call this the shift from "transactional expansion" to "operational expansion."
2. Why physical stores matter again
The value of physical space can't be measured by sales-per-square-meter alone. For a Chinese brand that has just entered Europe, a store can serve four functions at once.
1. It's trust infrastructure, not just a point of sale
When European consumers come across an unfamiliar product online, their first reaction usually isn't the urge to buy — it's a string of questions. Is the quality reliable? Who do I contact if something goes wrong? Is returning it easy? Will this brand even still exist in six months?
This matters especially in categories that require touch, trial, explanation or after-sales support — smart hardware, home goods, mobility devices, beauty devices. In-person experience noticeably lowers the cost of a consumer's decision. A store turns an abstract advertising promise into something that can be touched, verified, and held accountable.
2. It's where brand content gets made
Flagship stores, concept stores and pop-ups aren't just places for people to walk in and buy things. They can host product launches, community events, influencer visits, collaborations with local artists, and media shoots. Physical space becomes a source of content in its own right, which in turn boosts the efficiency of social media distribution. Online and offline aren't really substitutes for one another — they amplify each other.
3. It's a forward outpost for market research
Online data can tell a company what got clicked and what got bought, but it can't always explain why a consumer hesitated, why they returned an item, or why a product felt like it "wasn't designed for me." One of a store's most valuable assets is the real feedback frontline staff hear every day — how German consumers describe their needs, how they compare competitors, and what concerns they have about price, materials, function and after-sales service.
4. It forces a company to close the loop on local operations
Once a brand goes offline, it has to deal with site selection, leases, fire safety, labor law, tax, inventory, returns, repairs, and product and packaging compliance. These seemingly tedious details are exactly what builds a competitive moat — competitors can copy a product or an ad creative, but replicating a stable, functioning local organization in a short time is far harder.
3. Two case studies: how a store becomes a brand's "global expression"
Pop Mart: completing a brand identity upgrade through urban cultural landmarks
Pop Mart's approach in Europe didn't copy its China playbook. In February 2023, its first store in France opened at Westfield Forum des Halles in Paris — the brand's first permanent store on the European continent. In July 2024, Pop Mart opened a second store inside the Carrousel du Louvre, building in-person experiences around art-themed products, limited releases and artist collaborations.
The commercial logic here is clear: the location itself is a piece of brand storytelling. Setting up in one of Paris's core commercial and cultural landmarks isn't only about foot traffic — it's telling consumers something specific: this isn't a batch of toys shipped over from China. It's an original IP brand aiming to be part of the global youth culture and art consumption world.
Still, Pop Mart's success isn't easy to replicate. It has a mature IP, a collecting mechanic, strong community effects, and content that spreads well on its own. The store works because it amplifies demand that already exists — it isn't creating that demand out of nothing.
Miniso: rewriting a value brand's spatial image through the "super store"
In June 2024, Miniso opened a flagship store at 104 Champs-Élysées in Paris. The brand described it as Europe's largest Miniso store at the time; local French press reported the store spans more than 800 square meters across two floors. The store features IP collaboration lines including Sanrio, Disney and Barbie, and the brand said it set a single-day sales record for a store outside mainland China on opening day.
What Miniso's approach shows: when a product is easily filed under "cheap general goods," a store's location, size, layout and IP lineup can redefine how consumers understand the brand. The value pricing hasn't gone anywhere — the space just reframes "cheap" as "fun, worth browsing, worth sharing."
Both cases show that physical space can become a brand asset. But they're also a reminder: a landmark flagship store from a leading brand is a combination of outcome and tool — it shouldn't be treated as the standard playbook for every company going abroad.
4. A view from Germany: the riskiest mistake is treating "putting down roots" as "renting a store first"
Looking at the reality of the German market, I don't think companies should reach for a capital-heavy flagship store to prove commitment before they've actually validated anything. German consumers aren't averse to shopping online — data from Destatis shows 83% of German internet users made an online purchase in 2024. Online channels still matter; they just can't carry the entire weight of brand trust, local service and long-term operations on their own.
At the same time, the real barriers to entering the German market often sit outside the transaction itself. The EU's General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), in force since 13 December 2024, tightened requirements around product safety, traceability and having a responsible economic operator within the EU. Companies shipping packaged goods into Germany also need to work out their obligations under LUCID packaging registration, system participation and data reporting. Depending on the category, CE marking, WEEE, battery regulations, data protection and industry-specific rules may also apply.
So what's genuinely scarce in the German market was never the ability to build out a storefront. It's the ability to string together market judgment, compliance, channels, service and a local team into one coherent operation.
5. Not every brand should open a flagship store: four more realistic paths to market
Pop-up / trade show presence — Best suited for a stage where the city, customer segment or price tier hasn't been confirmed yet. Core goal: low-cost testing of foot traffic, feedback, content reach and purchase intent.
Store-in-store / channel partnership — Best suited for companies with a mature product but limited local operating capacity. Core goal: enter the market by leaning on an established retailer's foot traffic, credibility and service infrastructure.
Distributor + service point — Best suited for specialized hardware, home goods, medical devices or categories with high after-sales demands. Core goal: build a sales and service network first, then decide whether to run stores directly.
Flagship / concept store — Best suited for brands that already have some brand recognition, repeat purchase, and local organizational groundwork. Core goal: concentrate on brand display, community building, media coverage and sales conversion.
A genuinely professional market entry plan doesn't start by deciding what kind of store to open. It starts by answering three questions: what does the brand need to validate? Which local touchpoint validates it most efficiently? And once that's confirmed, how should resources scale up from there?
6. From "store opening project" to "market entry system"
For a Chinese company preparing to enter Germany, or Europe more broadly, physical market entry needs at least five interlocking pieces:• Market judgment — whether the target customer segment, competitors, price tier, city and channel structure actually hold up.• Entry mode — choosing between direct operation, distribution, agency, joint venture, pop-up, store-in-store, or flagship.• Compliance groundwork — who owns product, packaging, tax, labor, data and industry-specific regulatory requirements.• Local operations — how warehousing, returns, after-sales, customer service, stores and partners come together into a closed loop.• Growth mechanics — how in-person experience turns into content, word of mouth, channel relationships, and a replicable model for expansion.
This is also my deepest takeaway from watching Chinese brands go global from inside Germany: what companies actually lack is rarely a single-point service provider. What they need is someone who can sit across the whole operating picture and connect China headquarters, the local market, and a range of specialist resources into one working interface on the ground.
Conclusion: real physical roots mean building the capability to operate sustainably, locally
Chinese brands going global are moving past the stage of "translate a domestic playbook into another language and transplant it abroad." The next round of competition won't just be about whose supply chain is faster or cheaper. It will also be about who understands local consumers better, who can build service relationships people trust, and who can stay the course on compliance and organization over the long run.
A physical store can be the most visible expression of that capability, but it's neither the starting point nor the only answer. The real starting point is a company's willingness to treat an overseas market as a local market that needs to be understood, organized and run for the long haul, on its own terms.
In that sense, the deep water of globalization for Chinese brands isn't about shipping more products further away. It's about helping a brand grow real roots in a foreign society.