Multinational retailer Walmart has announced plans to invest US$80m in its operations in China to open 30 new stores and refurbish its 400 other stores in the country.
These new outlets are part of a plan Walmart executives first made known in October 2012 for the company to open more than 100 new stores over the following three years.
Alongside its decision to expand its Chinese operations, Walmart intends to remodel 50 of its stores in 2013 after successfully remodelling 31 stores last year.
So far this year Walmart has opened two new stores in the Hebei and Sichuan provinces, with two new hypermarkets planned in the Guangdong province and two new branches of Sam’s Club, Walmart’s chain of membership-only retail warehouses, in eastern China’s Hangzhou and Suzhou.
Walmart’s investment agenda also has further distribution centre networks planned, including a new distribution centre in the, Hubei province and chilled warehouses in the Guangdon province. This is aimed at enhancing food safety and quality and help reduce costs, according to a statement from the company.
'Our aim is to strengthen our business foundation to enable our long-term development in China,' said Greg Foran, Walmart’s China president and chief executive officer.
Other retailers have performed poorly in the Chinese market, with French store Carrefour and British Tesco closing some of their outlets as a result of poor returns.
Industry experts have blamed surging rents for a contraction among foreign chain stores operating in China.
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