Walmart Asia CEO and president Scott Price has told delegates at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in the Philippines that despite China’s economic slowdown, he expects the country’s retail market to flourish in the coming decade.
With retails sales up 10.9 per cent year-on-year in September and up 11 per cent in October, Price said he expects China to drive more than half the world’s retail growth in the next ten years.
A record breaking 'Singles Day', China's online shopping day on 11 November, has further proved that retail demand in China is strong, with leading Chinese e-tailer Alibaba reporting a 60 per cent increase in sales to US$14.6bn in sales on Singles Day compared to 2014.
Price said that Walmart’s online operation in China, Yihoaodian, also reported strong sales on Singles Day, though did not specify sales figures.
After acquiring full ownership of Yihaodian earlier this year, Price said that he saw plenty of opportunities to grow Walmart china’s online-to-offline (O2O) business.
'We think online-to-offline is critical, as customers look for convenience, and convenience is not just one mode. We think the convenience of having online-to-offline and the role that online will play is pretty important, especially as you start to serve tier three and four cities,” Price said.
China’s O2O market is valued at almost Rmb10 trillion (US$156.8bn), and as demand for O2O services continues to grow, Price said there would be a boost to bricks-and-mortar stores as a result.
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