Walmart in China. (IC Photo via Caixing Global)

Walmart to Boost Logistics in China with US$1.2 Billion Investment

Kinanty Nadia Putri
Market & Investment
New Investment
Jul 02, 2019
2130
Continuing the efforts to keep being a prominent and relevant player in a rapidly changing retail industry, Walmart announced its plans to invest US$1.2 billion in China for the next 10 years to upgrade logistics. The plan was announced through the US retail giant social media account on Monday (7/2).

The initiative was intended to join retailers like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd in combining e-commerce and high-street shopping, as Walmart has been pushing to integrate its retail network with Chinese burgeoning smart retail movement.
In China, Walmart has operated 400 retail units within more than 180 cities across the country with a number of commerce formats, such as Walmart supermarket, Sam’s Club, and hypermarket.

Last year, the company opened its first small high-tech supermarket that allows customers to use their smartphones in the payment process for items that are mostly available on the US retailer’s store selling on JD Daojia, an online shopping platform affiliated with JD.com.

Walmart’s announcement about the plan comes after the agreement between Trump and Xi during the G-20 summit in Japan, where the US President said that he won’t add any tariffs on China and would like to resume the trade deals between the two countries—where the retail company possibly aware that the regulation might rekindle hope for US-China trade deal that benefits the industry.

Besides Walmart, European retailers Carrefour are also pushing to revise its business models in order to adapt to the changing market scenario in China.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/walmart-to-invest-us-1-2-billion-in-china-to-upgrade-logistics-11679806

Walmart , China , Investment , Retail , Business , Logistics