Shopping in Shanghai: Chinese Brands & Shops

Q: Is Songmont cheaper in China?

Yes. On 11 September 2026, the Luna bag was priced at RMB 1,880 on Songmont's official domestic online store. On the brand's own overseas website, however, it was priced at USD 389, GBP 340, SGD 453 and AUD 499 respectively, which is 28%–66% higher than the domestic price depending on the country/region. In addition, during major sales events, domestic online prices are further reduced.

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A leather shoulder bag, perfume bottle and makeup compact from Chinese brands sold in Shanghai.

Shopping in Shanghai: Which Chinese Brands Are Worth Buying, and Where Are the Stores?

For shopping in Shanghai, the Chinese brands most worth your time are Songmont (bags that cost 65–66% more on the brand's own UK website than they do in China), To Summer (fragrance with no official overseas store) and Florasis (makeup at under half its overseas price). Five of these brands have stores in two neighbourhoods you can walk around, with one short taxi ride between them.

The price gap on Chinese brands is bigger than on almost anything Western you can buy here. An iPhone or a pair of Nikes may cost much the same as at home. A Songmont bag doesn't. At LyrikTrip, we checked every price below on the brands' official websites and official China stores on the same day and mapped every store, so you can plan a shopping afternoon around facts rather than hype.

Key Takeaways

Songmont is the clearest win, and Britain is where the gap is widest. The Luna bag is ¥1,880 in China. On Songmont's UK site the same bag is £340 — 65% more. Elsewhere it is US$389 in the States, S$453 in Singapore and A$499 in Australia, so the range across markets is 28–66%.
To Summer is the one brand here you really can't buy at home. There is no official overseas channel, and the website that sells it abroad says it is not the official brand.
PANE and Tagi. now ship internationally. Visit their stores for the fitting and the full range. Don't expect exclusives.
Plan two neighbourhoods and one taxi, not one long walk. Huaihai Middle Road and the Wukang Road–Hunan Road area cover five brands. Pop Mart's two flagships on East Nanjing Road are a separate trip.
Prices were checked on 11 September 2026. China prices are list prices before promotions. During big sales, China prices drop further.

Who's shopping? Jump to your list

If you are…	You'll probably want	Read
A family, or three generations travelling together	Pop Mart blind boxes, Tagi.'s playful accessories, a relaxed half-day near the Bund	Pop Mart · the route
Into design, beauty and new labels	PANE shoes, muva. bags, Tagi., Florasis makeup	PANE, muva. and Tagi. · Florasis
Buying one good bag or a fragrance for yourself	Songmont Luna or Song bag, To Summer	Songmont · To Summer
Short on time (one afternoon)	Songmont and the Wukang Road area	The route

Is it worth buying Chinese brands in China?

Yes, for a few specific brands, but for different reasons. Some are simply cheaper in China than on their own overseas websites. One is only sold in China. Songmont is also good value next to Western bags of the same type. Mixing these reasons into one "China is cheap" story is how shopping guides mislead people.

Here is the short version. Every overseas price comes from the brand's official website. Every China price is the list price at the brand's official Tmall store.

Prices checked: 11 September 2026. Conversions use the People's Bank of China central parity rate on the same morning (US$1 = ¥6.7743).

We only give a percentage where we could match the same product on both sides. Pop Mart releases new series too often to compare fairly. For PANE and Tagi. we have the overseas prices but not yet a matched China price, so we don't claim a saving.

Is Songmont cheaper in China?

Close-up of a full-grain leather crescent bag in a minimalist Shanghai boutique.

Yes. Songmont's UK site charges 65–66% more than the China list price — the widest gap of any market we checked — and the gap grows during Chinese sales. It is also the only brand on this list whose stores exist only in mainland China. If you want to see and feel the leather before buying, Shanghai is one of the best places to do it.

Songmont (山下有松) is a Chinese leather-goods brand. Its Luna bag has become an international search favourite: around 18,000 searches a month, up 83% year on year. Here is what the two best-known bags cost in each market.

Each market states tax differently — the UK and Australian prices include VAT and GST while the US price excludes sales tax — so compare with your own market rather than ranking the columns. During the Tmall sale running when we checked, the same two bags were ¥1,596 and ¥1,684. One small caution: the China listing calls the Luna a "medium crescent bag," and the overseas site lists no dimensions. Check the size in store before you assume it is identical to the one you saw online at home.

Is Songmont as good as Polène or Mansur Gavriel?

On the leather grade, they are comparable. On price, Songmont in China costs roughly half as much. What you give up is detailed information about where the leather comes from. Many shoppers look for a "Polène dupe" (about 3,600 searches a month), and Songmont is often the brand they land on. So we compared the official product pages, not opinions.

| Bag | Official price | ≈ in RMB | Leather, as stated by the brand | vs Songmont Song in China | |—|–:|–:|—|–:| | Songmont Song bag, medium | ¥1,980 in China · US$429 in the US | 1,980 | Full-grain leather, 30-plus finishing steps; leather lining; origin not stated | — | | Polène Numéro Neuf | €440 | 3,448 | Italian full-grain calfskin, certified | about 74% more | | Cuyana Camina Bucket Bag | US$598 | 4,051 | Italian leather | about 105% more | | Mansur Gavriel Bucket Bag | US$645 | 4,369 | Italian vegetable-tanned leather | about 121% more |

We compared four things: leather grade, stated leather origin, lining and hardware, and price. On leather grade the bags are comparable. All three Western brands name Italy as the source. Songmont doesn't say where its leather comes from. On price, Songmont in China is the clear winner. We would not call them "the same quality," because the brands don't publish enough to prove that. If Italian origin matters to you, buy the Polène. If you were going to spend that money anyway, a Songmont in Shanghai gets you comparable full-grain leather and some change for dinner.

Where are Songmont's stores in Shanghai?

Songmont lists five Shanghai stores on its official website, all open 10:00–22:00:

Huaihai Middle Road flagship: 817–819 Huaihai Middle Road, Huangpu. About 180 m from Exit 3 of Shaanxi South Road metro station.
Rockbund: Room 101, Hami Building, 149 Yuanmingyuan Road, just behind the Bund. Easy to combine with a walk along the Bund.
Shanghai IFC: LG1-7, Building D, 8 Century Avenue, Pudong.
Taikoo Li Qiantan: L3-34, 1–9 Dongyu Road, Pudong.
West Bund Central: Shop B-L1-01, Block F09, Xuhui.

The Huaihai Middle Road flagship is the one to choose if you are following the route below.

To Summer: can you buy it outside China?

A Chinese fragrance bottle in the courtyard of an old Shanghai garden house.

Not from the brand. To Summer (观夏) has no official overseas store. The website that sells it abroad describes itself as an independent curator, "not the official brand or an affiliated partner." If you want the real thing at the official price, buy it in China.

To Summer is a Chinese fragrance house built around Eastern notes: tea, osmanthus, wood and incense. Its Kunlun Snow (昆仑煮雪) fragrance was ¥498 for 30 ml at the brand's official Tmall store when we checked, and about ¥950 for 100 ml. That is roughly US$74 and US$140. We don't compare it with an overseas price, because there is no official one.

To Summer's first Shanghai flagship opened in 2022 and is listed at 111 Hunan Road, a courtyard-style store in the old French Concession. The brand doesn't publish a store list of its own, so confirm the address before you make the trip. It is about 340 m from Exit 3 of Shanghai Library metro station and a ten-minute walk from Tagi. It's popular, so go on a weekday if you want space to try the scents.

Flying home with perfume: see how to bring it home below. The 100 ml bottle is where people get caught out.

Florasis and Chinese beauty brands: are they cheaper in China?

Yes. Florasis costs noticeably less in China than on its overseas website. Its signature 9 g pressed powder is US$51 abroad and about ¥150–200 in China, roughly US$22–30. That means the overseas site charges roughly 70% to more than double.

Florasis (花西子) is known for compacts and lipsticks carved with Chinese motifs. That makes the product itself part of the appeal, so buy one as a gift even if you rarely wear makeup. Maogeping (毛戈平), a premium line founded by a well-known Chinese makeup artist, is the other name you'll see in department-store beauty halls. We haven't matched its prices, so we make no claim about savings there.

The simplest way to buy Florasis is its official Tmall store, delivered to your hotel. Our what to buy in China guide explains how hotel delivery works.

PANE, muva. and Tagi.: are the newer brands worth a detour?

Yes, if you like design. Go for the fitting and the full range, not for exclusivity. PANE and Tagi. both run official international web stores now. muva. is the one we could not find an official overseas shop for.

PANE is a Chinese footwear and training-wear label. Search interest in "pane shoes" has risen about 400% in a year. Its Crest Kick trainers are US$180 on the brand's international site, which ships to the UK, the US, the EU, Japan, Korea and much of South-East Asia. Shanghai has two stores. One is on the ground floor of TX Huaihai (523 Huaihai Middle Road). The other is the brand's flagship, PANE Plaza on Yongyuan Road, a short walk from Jing'an Temple station. Trying shoes on in store saves you an international return.
muva. is a bag label whose Shanghai searches have grown about eightfold in a year. Map listings put its stores on the second floor of TX Huaihai, in the same building as PANE, and at CP Jing'an, 68 Yuyuan Road. We didn't find an official overseas web store. If you like a muva. bag, buying it in Shanghai may be your best option.
Tagi. sells playful phone cases, bag charms, passport holders and homewear. Its international store ships to "almost every country," with phone cases from about US$32. The Shanghai shop, Tagi. Modern Timeless House, 247-5 Wulumuqi Middle Road, is open 10:00–21:00 daily. It's an easy stop with children, and it sits ten minutes from To Summer.

Pop Mart: where are the flagship stores on Nanjing Road?

Pop Mart has two flagships on East Nanjing Road, about a 12-minute walk apart. It is the best-known Chinese toy brand abroad, and the easiest stop to add to a Bund day with children.

According to the Shanghai government's English portal (December 2025):

Global flagship: Rooms S-105, 117, 206 and 207, HY Plaza, 288 East Nanjing Road. This opened in 2022.
Shimao Festival City store: Rooms G03 and M03, 1F and 2F, 829 East Nanjing Road. This is the newer and larger of the two.

We haven't compared Pop Mart prices, because series change constantly and the same figure is rarely on sale in two countries at once. Go for the flagship experience and the displays. Set a blind-box budget with children before you walk in.

How should you plan a brand-shopping afternoon in Shanghai?

A plane-tree lined shopping street in Shanghai's former French Concession.

Split it into two neighbourhoods with one taxi ride in between. Don't try to walk the whole thing. We mapped every store's walking times, and the shops fall into four separate areas. Within each area, stores are 8–14 minutes apart on foot. Between areas, it is 19–40 minutes.

Area	Brands	Walk inside the area	Nearest metro
1 · Huaihai Middle Road	TX Huaihai (PANE ground floor, muva. 2nd floor) → Songmont flagship	8 min (650 m)	Shaanxi South Road
2 · Wukang Road–Hunan Road	Tagi. → To Summer	10 min (810 m)	Changshu Road · Shanghai Library
3 · Jing'an Temple (alternative)	PANE Plaza ↔ muva. CP Jing'an	14 min (1.1 km)	Jing'an Temple
4 · East Nanjing Road	Pop Mart HY Plaza ↔ Pop Mart Shimao	12 min (950 m)	East Nanjing Road

Our suggested half-day, five brands:

1. Start at TX Huaihai: PANE on the ground floor, then muva. upstairs. 2. Walk 8 minutes west along Huaihai Middle Road to the Songmont flagship. 3. Take a taxi to Tagi. on Wulumuqi Middle Road. It is about 2.5 km and roughly 15 minutes outside rush hour. Walking takes about 28 minutes. The metro takes about as long, because of the walking at both ends. 4. Browse Tagi., then walk 10 minutes to To Summer on Hunan Road. 5. Finish on Wukang Road, one of the city's prettiest streets for an evening walk.

If you're staying near Jing'an Temple, swap area 1 for area 3. PANE and muva. both have stores there, and Tagi. is a 19-minute walk away. With children, give Pop Mart its own half-day with the Bund. Walking from the Pop Mart flagship to TX Huaihai takes about 40 minutes, so don't chain them. On a short stopover, our Shanghai layover guide shows how much time a shopping stop really needs.

Not in Shanghai? Where else are these stores?

Beijing has three Songmont stores, and Songmont is also in most major cities. The brand's official list includes 269 Wangfujing Street, 18 Jiuxianqiao Road near the 798 art district, and 5 Guantang East Road in Chaoyang. It also names Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Qingdao and Taiyuan. Pop Mart is in almost every large mall in China. To Summer, PANE, muva. and Tagi. have a smaller network, so if these are on your list, Shanghai is the safest city to find them all.

How do you pay and bring it all home?

Pay with a mobile wallet linked to your foreign card. Pack fragrance with the rules for your flight in mind. Shanghai's brand stores generally take Alipay and WeChat Pay, and both apps let you link a foreign card. Set them up before you fly with our guide to paying in China.

Perfume and cosmetics on flights. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China's passenger guidance (March 2023), you may carry cosmetics on domestic flights only in containers no larger than 100 ml, one of each type. They must be ready for inspection. The limit is the container's capacity, not how much is left in it. So:

- A 30 ml To Summer bottle can travel in your hand luggage. - A 100 ml bottle is on the limit. Put it in checked luggage, or ask the store to confirm the capacity printed on the bottle. - On international flights, the familiar rule applies: containers of 100 ml or less, all in one resealable bag of up to 1 litre.

Tax refund. Since April 2025, China's departure tax refund starts at ¥200 spent in one participating store on the same day. That is under the notice from the Ministry of Commerce and five other departments. A single Songmont bag clears that easily. Not every store takes part, so ask for the tax-refund form at the till before you pay. Our what to buy in China guide explains how the refund works at the airport.

Bags travel best in their dust bag, inside your hand luggage. Keep the receipt and the tag in case customs at home asks for proof of what you paid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Songmont cheaper in China?

Yes. On 11 September 2026, the Luna bag was ¥1,880 at Songmont's official China store. On the brand's own UK site it was £340 — 65% more — and on its other overseas sites US$389, S$453 and A$499, so the gap runs from 28% to 66% depending on the country. China prices drop further during big online sales.

Can you buy To Summer outside China?

Not from the brand itself. As of September 2026, To Summer has no official overseas store. The main website selling it abroad describes itself as an independent reseller, not the official brand. Buy it at the brand's Shanghai flagship on Hunan Road or its official Tmall store.

Where is the Pop Mart flagship store in Shanghai?

The global flagship is in HY Plaza, 288 East Nanjing Road. A second, larger store is in Shimao Festival City, 829 East Nanjing Road. The two are about a 12-minute walk apart on the pedestrian street, and both are easy to combine with the Bund.

Is Songmont as good as Polène?

On leather grade they are comparable: both use full-grain leather. Polène states that its leather comes from Italy and is certified. Songmont does not say where its leather comes from. In China, a Songmont costs roughly half the price of a comparable Polène, so the trade-off is price against stated sourcing.

Is Florasis cheaper in China?

Yes. Florasis's 9 g pressed powder costs US$51 on its overseas website and about ¥150–200 (roughly US$22–30) in China, so the overseas price is roughly 70% to more than double. The easiest place to buy it is the brand's official Tmall store, delivered to your hotel.

Can I take perfume on a domestic flight in China?

Yes, in small containers. China's aviation authority allows cosmetics in hand luggage on domestic flights if each container holds no more than 100 ml, with one item per type, ready for inspection. Anything larger must go in checked luggage.

The bottom line

If you only buy one thing in Shanghai, make it the thing you can't get at the same price, or at all, at home. That means a Songmont bag, a To Summer fragrance, or a Florasis compact. Spend your afternoon on Huaihai Middle Road and around Wukang Road rather than on a checklist, and leave Pop Mart for the day you're at the Bund.

For everything else, from electronics to trainers to what's not worth buying at all, see our what to buy in China guide. If a made-to-measure suit or qipao is on your list, start with our Shanghai tailor guide on day one of your trip. For handmade keepsakes, our souvenirs guide covers tea, jade and silk. And if you'd like a shopping afternoon built into a private Shanghai itinerary, that is exactly the kind of day we plan.