Clustered and in waves: clear industry focus in the expansion activities of retailers from Asia

Asian brands are currently continuing to be very expansive in German city centre locations. The latest market entry is the South Korean label Moida K-Beauty for around 1,200 m² at Spitalerstraße 10 in Hamburg. This is the result of a recent analysis of Asian retailers in Germany by BNP Paribas Real Estate.

It is particularly striking that the industry focus of lettings and openings has always been very clustered over the past few years. While in the period between 2020 and 2024 the focus was primarily on car brands (Polestar¹, Vinfast, Lynk & Co., Nio, BYD/Denza) and consumer electronics companies (Xiaomi, Huawei), since 2025 it has been mainly toy and consumer goods brands (Miniso, Pop Mart) and increasingly beauty companies (e.g. Moida K-Beauty) that have increasingly come into focus.

In addition, the Japanese fashion giant Uniqlo has once again begun to consolidate its branch network in a targeted manner in the top and most recently also in leading B cities (including the Messehaus am Markt in Leipzig). However, top cities are also very popular with Asian retailers overall: A A locations² accounted for a remarkable 75% of the deals concluded by Asian players since 2017. A further 19% were made in B locations³ , while the other cities only account for 6%. "For the remainder of 2026, it can also be assumed that increased demand impulses will come from retailers from the Asian region. It remains to be seen whether new market entries can be announced or whether the already established market participants will open additional shops," says Christoph Scharf, Managing Director of BNP Paribas Real Estate GmbH and Head of Retail Services, summarising his assessments.

¹ Swedish-Chinese joint venture

² A-locations: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart

³ B locations: Aachen, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Dortmund, Dresden, Erfurt, Essen, Hanover, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Mainz, Mannheim, Münster, Nuremberg, Osnabrück, Trier, Wiesbaden, Würzburg