Daimler is to peddle its Smart cars through the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, while Apple will sell iPhones on an instalment plan: both signs that foreign retailers in China are searching for new ways to entice mainland consumers who are no longer such a pushover for foreign products.

Gone are the days when just setting up a shop on a Chinese high street was enough to guarantee a steady stream of sales for foreign brands – as Germany’s Metro learnt this week when it confirmed the failure of its experiment in electronics retailing in Shanghai. Metro said it would abandon its plan to establish more than 100 Media Markt electronics stores in China by mid-decade.

Germany’s largest listed retailer joins an illustrious line of famous western brands that have failed to prosper in China, including Best Buy, Home Depot (the US DIY chain) and Barbie. Even brands that have long been recognised as experts at exploiting the Chinese market – such as Yum Brands, owner of KFC, the largest foreign restaurateur in China – have recently begun to stumble.