Shanghai retail market: A best buy   2002-11-01 14:44:57 Feel like going shopping？ China's huge retail market has captured great attention worldwide, with Shanghai in the spotlight. The eyes of world's retail giants are almost all on China now especially China’s biggest metropolis Shanghai. In early October, Wal－Mart signed an agreement with China International Trust and Investment Corporation to establish a new joint venture in Shanghai, signaling the world's top retailer's intentions to tap the east China's market. Hot on the heels of this move, the president of Carrefour, the world's second biggest retailer, came to Shanghai with plans to relocate its global purchasing center in China from Shenzhen to Shanghai. Meanwhile, Metro Group, the world's third largest commercial company, already has 15 outlets nationwide with three more on the way by the year end. "China is a country that many companies want to invest in these years because I can say that it is a continent for tomorrow and everybody understood that very quickly," said Jean－Luc Tuzes, president of Metro Jinjiang Cash & Carry Co., Ltd. Statistics show that about two－thirds of the global top 50 retailers have already entered the Chinese market. Metro Cash & Carry, the star player of Metro Group, came to China in 1995 and partnered with Shanghai Jinjiang Group. Operating on a warehouse－based membership basis catering to bulk－buy customers, it has gained satisfactory growth since operations began in China. "And yes we have a big project for the future and if you see this map, there are a lot of cities where we have to go. We have today 15 stores. In the next three to five years, I can say we will have about 40 stores more," said Jean－Luc Tuzes. According to a Price Waterhouse Coopers report, the Chinese mainland has the single largest potential consumer market in the world. And Shanghai, the country's economic engine, has even greater consumer potential. With China's WTO entry, overseas firms here will be able to hold a maximum 65 percent majority stake in retail stores by 2003. Thus, many global corporations are moving to seize this tremendous opportunity to get a slice of China's huge retail pie. "Chinese retail market may be the only one in the world, which everyone expects, with a low double digital growth. You can not find anywhere else," said Fanchen Meng, general manager of A.T. Kearney Shanghai. The entry of the world's retail giants is bringing sweeping changes to Shanghai's retail industry. Apart from the traditional department stores, more diversified retail forms are emerging. Hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenient stores and specialty stores are all witnessing rapid growth. "The main focus of Shanghai's retailing is gradually shifting from the traditional department stores to the big grocery chains," said Prof. Xu Peihua, economist from Fudan University. Although the entry of the world's retail giants may present great challenges for local retailers, the long－term benefits should be a more competitive domestic industry. Shanghai, with its efforts to build itself into an international finance and trade center, will draw even greater attention from the global retail market.