On the bustling thoroughfare of Huaihai Road in Shanghai, the "Shanghai home for Steinway & Sons" was inaugurated not long after the New Year, 2020.

In 2018, Steinway & Sons -- the top US piano maker -- rolled out a new Asia-Pacific headquarters in China's Shanghai. The facility became Steinway's third-largest global operating center after New York and Hamburg.

A "first-store economy" further fueled consumption in Shanghai. In the first three quarters of last year, 756 first stores were opened in the city, up 74.6 percent year-on-year, which led the country.

Shanghai spared no efforts to help the "Shopping in Shanghai" brand as its introduction of "four kinds of stores" became more and more popular last year.

The "four kinds of stores" -- "first-stores" selling named-brands, time-honored stores, small-sized stores and stores open at night -- have enhanced the business identity of Shanghai.

Shanghai's enthusiasm for attracting foreign investment in the retail industry is inseparable from the optimization of the business environment, the improvement of policy and system supply, and the government's provision of more convenient services.

In June 2019, Shanghai issued several measures to promote the development of regional headquarters of multinational corporations, one of which allows chain enterprises in those headquarters to apply for one business license that applies to all the stores they open.

Having officially launched the campaign of "creating the world's first place for launching new products" in 2018, the city has seen an economic boom.

The ground floor atrium located in the Shanghai New World Daimaru mall at the east end of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street is undoubtedly the first place for new product displays of global cosmetics brands. In 2019, 43 different cosmetics promotion activities were held there.

A shopping mall in Shanghai is decorated to welcome the Spring Festival. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]