Wal-Mart is accelerating efforts to grow its e-commerce business across China, with an emphasis on online sales of food, a category that does brisk business in the nation’s busy cities.
Wal-Mart’s shift to e-commerce in China comes after it slowed its ambitions for physical stores there last year.
Wal-Mart assumed full control of its e-commerce site in China in mid-2015, three years after increasing its stake in e-commerce company Yihaodian to 51%. Upon taking over the site, the retailer said it would invest in its e-commerce services and vowed to create a seamless omnichannel experience encompassing online, mobile and brick-and-mortar sales.
According to the Associated Press, Wal-Mart currently controls just 1.6% of China’s overall online retail market, far behind Alibaba at 46.9% and JD.com at 20.1%. But Wal-Mart’s e-commerce efforts may ultimately fare better in China than in the U.S. Online sales, especially of food, are more mature and more ubiquitous there, while here at home Wal-Mart has experienced just 8% growth, well below that of rivals like Target and Amazon.
To keep pace in China, Wal-Mart is expanding the number of delivery hubs it operates. Yihaodian currently oversees 250 e-commerce hubs, and in some places, Wal-Mart offers delivery of selected grocery items within three hours.
Moving forward, Wal-Mart plans increase its product selection, spotlighting items like imported foods, the Associated Press notes. In addition, Wal-Mart is extending its technological capabilities: Last year it launched an app that lets shoppers order online and pick up goods at stores in southern cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan.
(Source: Retail Dive )