Design: Lianhua Supermarkets Unveil New Brand Image By Superunion Amidst China’s Fiercely Competitive Retail Market 

Recognizing the importance of branding, Lianhua has undergone a complete brand refresh, from strategy to concept, design and finally, in-store execution through their strategic partnership with Superunion, facilitating the execution of their business strategy.

In a unique approach, Superunion conducted a series of interviews with members of staff, including the CEO, department directors and store managers, to understand the brand more from the internal stakeholders’ perspectives and gain insights through them. Through this process, Superunion uncovered the unique aspects of Lianhua’s culture – from the older, more experienced employees, to their reliable supply chain and neighborhood-oriented stores. The high market coverage of stores is also the biggest difference between Lianhua and their peers. These strengths are part of Lianhua’s long-held heritage and are more pertinent than ever amidst China’s fast-moving, overwhelmingly dense information society, a society that increasingly fears losing meaningful connection.

This insight is the core of the brand’s newly created brand positioning of “Togetherness”, aiming to nurture relationships and solve the pain points that consumers experience in fast- paced life. Through “Togetherness”, Lianhua have re-examined the nature of retail and created a more satisfying consumer experience providing high-quality products and consumer services, giving them a more unique positioning in a highly competitive market.

“Togetherness” has been visualized as an elaborate ribbon that ties all elements together. The new eye-catching store signage has become a highlight on the streets of the Yangtze River Delta region with the new key visual communicating a sense of connection among Lianhua, shoppers and the community.

As part of the corporate rebranding process, a cross-functional brand committee and a brand team have been established to provide professional brand management training and to ensure the brand transformation progresses smoothly, with passion and engagement from within the organization, both at head office and in store. Lianhua employees and consumers, believe the new logo and brand image brings a modern touch to the household name and is expected to attract younger generation to the store.

By the end of 2019, the first stage of the brand rollout will be complete. It’s expected that 42 Lianhua stores will display the new brand image, including updated in-store design, signage and staff uniforms. So far, the response from customers has been positive, with the fresh new look in-store vastly improving the Lianhua brand experience.

Commenting on the project, Ray Lan, Managing Creative Director Superunion said: “Creating the Lianhua brand identity was a challenging but fun journey. The new key visual – the “ribbon” – reflects the brand positioning “togetherness” in a very smart way, endowing it with a more vivid and concrete representation. It has become a powerful visual asset of Lianhua, enriching the brand through various touch points, and communicating what the brand stands for to customers.”

Commenting on their partnership, Maggie Chien, Client Service Director Superunion, said: “Our strategic partnership with Lianhua involved the development of a completely new brand strategy and brand expression, which we are now seeing come to life in-store. The new brand brings out the core advantages of Lianhua, whilst maintaining the brand’s heritage, giving the brand a new look and a more contemporary feel. It was such a pleasure working with Lianhua, who trusted our upstream creativity process, and were willing to rethink their future growth journey. We will accompany Lianhua to continuously make great impact in the journey of brand building.”