Best Buy lured by Chinese market

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 21, 2004

Best Buy lured by Chinese market

Best Buy, the top retailer of homeappliances and electronic products of the United States, has vowedto tap the Chinese market and purchase more such products from local manufacturers.

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Best Buy, the top retailer of homeappliances and electronic products of the United States, has vowedto tap the Chinese market and purchase more such products from local manufacturers.

Brad Anderson, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Best Buy Co. Inc., said in Beijing on Friday that the Chinese economy surged and forged a huge number of potential customers.

"China could be one of the most important places in the world, both in terms of sourcing and establishing retail practice," Anderson said after meeting with Chinese senior legislator Cheng Siwei in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

"We hope to open retail stores in China in the future," he said,declining to detail his ambition and ruling out the possibility ofsetting up retail service in China immediately.

The group, with over 680 retail stores in the United States and Canada but only one regional branch and a procurement center in Shanghai, was "learning how to serve Chinese customers in a better way", according to Anderson.

Cheng, an economist and vice-chairman of the National People's Congress' Standing Committee, China's top legislature, told Anderson that China's per-capita gross domestic product has exceeded 1,000 US dollars and "those with mid- or high-incomes in cities will be the major target of Best Buy".

Meanwhile, the US group was attracted by products with lower cost made in China.

"We are looking for suppliers who have consistent quality and also can innovate," the CEO said on his criteria for qualified suppliers, especially for electronic products.

Best Buy plans to purchase 1.2 billion US dollars worth of homeappliance and computers from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan this year, which will be a "great growth" but still a relatively small portion of the group's 18 billion US dollars annual global procurement.

Source:Xinhua

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