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Retail Sales Pattern Changes in China
Shopping is becoming easier and more enjoyable in Chinese supermarkets: it is easier for shoppers to inspect products before making the purchase, the shopping environment is more comfortable, and most important of all, things are much cheaper.
Chain-supermarkets are challenging traditional counter-sale shops as the mainstream form of retail sales today.
According to the ongoing second China chain-store conference, the chain-store company "Lianhua" has become China's largest retailer with an annual sales volume of 7.3 billion yuan.
By comparison, the Shanghai First Department Store Company, the largest retailer among traditional shops, registered a sales volume of 6.1 billion yuan.
Lianhua has over 800 stores across the country, and its sales volume this year is expected to top 10 billion yuan.
Five chain-store companies are in the list of top-ten retailers and the growth rate for chain-stores in terms of sales volume, is far faster than that of traditional department stores. The Wumei chain-store in Beijing and Suguo in Nanjing, for instance, have both recorded a growth rate of over 60 percent over the past two years.
However, in the less developed regions in west China, department stores still dominate the retail market.
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