Walmart looking to expand retail footprint in China

Walmart, though has closed 63 Sam’s Club stores across 24 American states, is planning to expand its high-end membership stores in China.

People waiting in line to sign up for membership in a Sam's Club store in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. [File Photo: IC]

Doug McMillion, Walmart CEO, said in his recent visit to Beijing that the retailer giant looks to double the number of Sam’s Club stores in China to 40 by 2020. So they will improve on fresh food quality and the scale of private brands.

Walmart also hopes to boost its online retail in China including services such as deliveries to customers who live under 2km by 29 minutes through cooperation with e-commerce platforms.

Currently, Sam's Club has nearly 2 million members with a renewal rate of core members of about 80 percent.

Last week, Walmart opened its first community-based intelligent supermarket in Shenzhen, a 1,200-square-meter format with about 9,000 items of merchandise.

McMillion said China's retail market has enormous growth potential. Walmart's investment in China will always be crucial to the company and it will open 30 to 40 new stores this year. The retailer is investing 700 million yuan ($111.6 million) in the self-operated perishable delivery center to strengthen its fresh business - the company's largest single investment in the country so far. The center will be put into use by the end of this year.

McMillion, who claimed to make Walmart a technology company last year, has also emphasized the significance of automation in the retail industry. The company is testing Scan& Go in 11 Walmart hypermarkets in China, which enables customers to scan the bar code on products and complete payment on a mini program on WeChat. In the future, all supermarkets will offer such services.

Walmart in recent years has slowed down its pace of expansion and is focusing on quality and sustainable development. In 2017, Walmart opened 31 new stores including 27 hypermarkets and four Sam's Club stores, remodeling 62 existing stores with 300 million yuan. Most of its revamp is for the stocking of fresh goods.