The Beijing Summer is officially over, and as the temperature drops, local and foreign brands warm up in their struggle for survival:

>> Carrefour, the French retail giant, is out with a month-long promotion to encourage local shoppers to frequent its already flourishing stores. The logo for the promotion, titled “Merry Month,” is suspiciously reminiscent of the Germany 2006 World Cup logo. Perhaps the French are trying to get over their defeat on the football field by celebrating their relative success in retail.

>> The Chinese media reports that the Beijing health department is investigating claims by a local couple pertaining to the quality of the food at IKEA. The husband told the Beijing messenger that while they were eating at IKEA’s in-store restaurant, his wife suddenly felt the food tasted strange. As she spat it out, she discovered not less than ten worms and ran to the bathroom to throw up. Since then, says the husband, the woman has trouble eating.

Chen Yue, IKEA’s “Market Manager”, was quick to inform the worried public that the worms were already inside the mushroom as it arrived to the store.

>> It is always interesting to see how one innovative product gives birth to a completely new industry of auxiliary products and services. The most famous example from recent times is the “iPod Economy”, the numerous add-ons and accessories that came to life due to the popularity of Apple’s music player.

Walking around my neighbourhood, I discovered that residents of Beijing’s back alleys are now enjoying the fruits of the “Baidu economy.” Baidu’s initial success came from free (and often illegal) downloads of MP3 files. These days, Internet cafes and industrious alley-dwelling computer owners are offering “music download” services to share the joys of illegal file sharing with the computer-less and computer-illiterate masses. The best of these new businesses also sell MP3 players, batteries, and other accessories. Naturally, the MP3 files don't necessarily come from Baidu.