Yingke Adarve, one of the coauthors of the book “Commercial Distribution”

Yingke Adarve has participated in the writing of the book “Commercial Distribution”, edited by Thomson Reuters. It is one of the very few existing monographic works on the Retail industry, which represents 5% of the Spanish GDP and 10.3% of the country’s jobs.

Retail industry in-house legal departments face many legal challenges in such an excessively regulated industry, such as tax, compliance, data protection, apart from all the pressing non-legal issues they must accompany their brands and companies with, such as the digitization process, the online and offline channels conjugation, internationalization and so on.

In this quickly-changing atmosphere, it is fundamental for in-house legal departments to be able to rely on specialized professionals who will not only advise their companies, but also train them when required and update them as soon as there is any relevant legal development in their industry.

This unique book to which Yingke Spain has participated, presents through a complete range of topics, focuses, styles, data and opinions, all the keys to what is nowadays one of the most important industry of our modern economies. One just need to look around to see that commercial distribution is all around. It varies in shapes and specialties, but it is always aimed at driving consumers to the products they want, when they want, at the price they want. This outstanding publication is with no doubt the most ambitious choral work on retail ever written in Spanish language.

Mr. Guzman López, Partner of the firm, has written the chapter on the main international operators in the Asian market, and more specifically in China. The country has surpassed years ago the United States to become the world’s largest destination for foreign investment, marking another milestone in China’s unprecedented growth and development. As the benefits of China’s extraordinary economic development expand, the rise of the Chinese consumer has become the latest opportunity for many domestic and multinational corporations. Foreign companies looking to sell their goods to Chinese businesses and the increasingly affluent Chinese consumer do so either directly or indirectly. The direct method requires a company to establish a presence in China and undertake the import or manufacture and subsequent distribution of its goods. The indirect method involves either selling the goods to a Chinese buyer that resells the goods in China, or appointing a commercial agent in China that introduces prospective buyers to the foreign company. As the market for selling into China becomes more saturated, companies are already shifting their strategies. Foreign companies are venturing further downstream and either participating in retail distribution and franchising, or engaging in direct selling to the Chinese market. The rise of e-commerce and internet sales also has had a significant impact on models and structures for distributing goods and services, and provides new opportunities for a variety of distribution models.

The author explains in the book who are the main international operators for retail in China, what are the main distribution channels, the existing legal entities, the different possibilities of developing retail business there, licensing, franchising, mergers and acquisitions processes, and he also details the huge e-commerce possibilities existing in the area. The Yingke Spain partner also warns of the risks and challenges for foreign entrepreneurs entering the Chinese market.