Great Wal-Mart of China
Expansion into China
• First store opened
in 1996
• Only 43 Stores
• Had to offer 35%
ownership to local
partners
• Grossed $916M
• Only 2% of
international sales.
Current Walmart
• Now over 227 stores
– Purchased Trust Mart.
• 70,000+ Associates
• $3.1 billion in sales.
• May now invest
independently in any
Chinese city.
What Chinese Walmartians
Want
• Chinese customers:
• Shop on foot
• Smaller Apartment/Fridge
– Smaller Foods
– More visits
• Want to put their hands on merchandise.
• Live grass fish, Turtles, Lobster, Bull Frogs.
• No longer offer snakes or rabbits because of
SARS.
Adapting to a Different
Culture
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To move into China, America's biggest and most
successful retailer had to learn its business all
over again.
In China, Wal-Mart seems to have found kindred
spirits in a culture of shopkeepers and bargain
hunters. "Chinese consumers are more open to
Americana than shoppers in Europe," says Dreher.
In places like Germany, South Korea and Japan,
where the big retailer has lost $1 billion, its
troubles partly came from underestimating the
local competition and failing to grasp the local
culture.
How will Walmart Differentiate?
How will Walmart Differentiate?
• Open earlier than competitors.
• Stay open later than competitors.
• Provide Shuttles to ferry residents to their
stores and back.
Retail-tainment
• WalMart is trying to weave their stores into
the fabric of every day Chinese life.
They’ve set up stages for local school
groups to perform and areas for the elderly
to hang.
Future of Walmart China
• China's voracious consumers are pushing retail sales to a
15 percent annual growth rate; that market will hit $860
billion by 2009, according to Bain & Co.
• Wal-Mart execs have long cited China as the best place on
earth to export the U.S. merchandising miracle Sam
Walton began 45 years ago
• Wal-Mart is more than doubling its presence in China by
spending $1 billion to acquire Trust-Mart, a Taiwaneseowned chain of more than 100 big-box stores in 20
Chinese provinces
Sources:
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/18/wal-marts-newmarket-smal_n_135842.html
• www.walmart.com
• http://www.wal-martchina.com/english/index.htm
• http://www.chinasnippets.com/2005/07/29/supermarketsin-china-my-favorites/