Monetising Chinese retail shoppers is turning from a distribution to direct-shopper experience for cross-border goods company Jatenergy.

It has signed an agreement to open a retail outlet, Jat Maternity and Children, within the upcoming 80,000sqm Hui Yue Shopping Mall. It says the children’s section of the shopping complex will be the largest indoor themed shopping centre in Zhengzhou, spanning 18,000sqm over three levels, called “Kids’ City”.

Jatenergy says it intends to open a “cornerstone retail outlet” within the shopping complex within Kids’ City.

Hui Yue is owned by the Henan Sheng Rung Holding Group, a Chinese company owned by Jatenergy director Xipeng Li. As part of the close ties with Sheng Rung, Jatenergy will obtain a “three-year, rent-free period” with a negotiated term expected to be agreed thereafter, in 2021.

Jatenergy will still need to spend an uncertain amount to set up and equip the store, but says there are “no conditions precedent contained in the agreement with no other payments to be made”.

Meanwhile, Jatenergy has said it intends acquire a controlling interest in Green Forest International, a Sydney-based wholesaler, distributor and exporter to Hong Kong and Mainland China. The announcement of a retail store in China will probably supplement the deal, with its stock likely to include many of the brand names marketed and sold by Green Forest, reports Small Caps.