Box to de-bottleneck Shanghai time-honored brands

Shanghai's waning time-honored brands have literally been given a helping hand - in the form of a robotic arm within a cubic vending machine.

"While the goods sold on online platforms enjoy good sales every year, there is no reason our high quality products cannot win over customers. We just need good platforms and these vending robots are providing one," said Shao.

Feng shared that a 12-member design team, which is evenly divided into Chinese and foreign designers, is currently working on themed gift packages, and the first batch would be available before the Chinese New Year in February.

Consumers can expect to find themes such as "Sweet Shanghai", a package primarily made up of snacks for those with a sweet tooth, or "Cool Shanghai", which might feature fans and mineral water. Each of these gift packages will come in special wrapping to reflect a mix of modern and traditional Shanghai elements.

The team at Signature Lifestyle is also working against the clock to set up a WeChat platform, a popular Chinese social media platform, before the Chinese New Year so that customers can browse, buy, and even arrange for a time and location to retrieve their purchases. Besides Shanghai, similar vending machines will also be released in cities such as Beijing and Shandong province in the near future.

"Our ambition is to make our team the nation's No. 1 brand for cultural souvenirs in the future. We look to operate up to 8,000 of such machines across China in the next five years," said Feng.