We are a geographically focused and dual-format retail chain operator in the Greater Yangtze River Delta, operating both department stores and supermarkets. We are a market leader in each of the regional markets where we operate. Our stores in Yixing, Jiangyin, Liyang, Danyang, Changshu and Jintan ranked as the highest grossing department stores and/or supermarkets in 2009 in their respective regions, according to the relevant local branches of MOFCOM. We believe our department store business and supermarket business are complementary to each other. The majority of our department stores are located close to our supermarkets in the same region, either in adjacent sites, in the same business district, or in the same building, forming a retail hub that offers our local customers an extensive shopping experience and allows us to increase the synergies between our department store business and supermarket business.

Since the inception of our Group in 1996, we have focused on developing our business in the Greater Yangtze River Delta. As at 31 December 2012, we operated 17 department stores and 28 supermarkets in the Greater Yangtze River Delta.  All of our stores are located in the cities with GDP per capita and retail sales of customer goods that are at the higher end in the Greater Yangtze River Delta.

Our department stores offer primarily seven categories of merchandise, namely, "fashion and apparel", "cosmetics, jewellery and accessories", "footwear", "athletic apparel and casual wear", "children’s wear and home furnishing", "household and electronic appliances" and "others", with a strong focus on trendy and fashionable lifestyle merchandise. We have to date positioned our department store business at the mid to high-end of the retail market in the Greater Yangtze River Delta, with a view to offering a comprehensive range of merchandise in response to the rising demand for high-quality products in our market. We derive revenue from our department store business primarily from concessionaire fees and direct sales, while we also generate revenue from our rental income. We operate all of our department stores, other than the department stores in Wuxi, Ma’anshan, Nantong and Zhenjiang, under the trade name of "華地" ("Springland"), which is our core department store brand established successfully by ourselves. We operate our department stores in Wuxi, Ma’anshan, Nantong and Zhenjiang under the trade name of "八佰伴" ("Yaohan"), which is a well-known Asian department store trade name originated in Japan.

Our supermarkets offer a broad range of fresh food, dry food, and non-food merchandise at competitive prices. Most of our supermarkets have a GFA of at least 6,000 sq.m. and are located in prime locations in cities in the Greater Yangtze River Delta. Substantially all of our revenue from our supermarkets is from direct sales, while we also have revenue from concessionaire sales, rental income and from provision of food and beverage services. We operate our supermarket business under the trade name of "大統華" ("Datonghua").