25 years ago, Chinese mainland's first Wal-Mart, Shenzhen Luohu Honghu Wal-Mart, opened. After 25 years, Honghu Wal-Mart will withdraw at the end of this month.
The data shows that in the past four years or so, Walmart China has closed more than 80 stores. E-commerce and real estate have become recognized as "roadblocks" in physical retail.
Although Walmart has reduced the size of its stores, it has accelerated the layout of Sam's member stores in recent years. According to Walmart China, the number of paid members of Sam's Club China has exceeded 4 million. At present, Sam operates 36 stores in 23 cities and covers most of the country through e-commerce platforms.
Transforming time and space to Shenzhen in 1996, new things are taking root in this hot land of reform and opening up. This year, Walmart opened the first Wal-Mart shopping mall in Shenzhen Chinese mainland Luohu Honghu Wal-Mart, and the first Sam's Club.
The overseas edition of the People's Daily reported that at that time, people had just bid farewell to shortages, and it was not until 1992 that China's last kind of ticket, food stamps, gradually left circulation. The memory of queuing up at the supply and marketing cooperatives to purchase is still so close, and the self-selected shopping mall has come to the side. "As soon as the mall opened, everyone around me went to join in the fun." Ms. Li of Shenzhen said, "In the past, we were all in line to buy, we looked through the glass, what to tell the salesman." Everything in the shopping mall is on the shelves, and we can choose to look at it. ”
The arrival of the first batch of foreign retail industries such as Wal-Mart has brought large modern supermarkets to people's eyes. "It's as if Grandma Liu has entered the Grand View Garden, really grand, several floors, what do you want." The shopping mall in my hometown is still too small, and the variety of items is not so rich. Sun Li, a citizen, went to Walmart for the first time, and she recalled that "it was a good feeling to shop freely."
In the first few years of its opening, its "foreign" and "high-class" image was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Imported goods such as Ferrero and Blue Can Cookies were still a strong attraction for people to run to Walmart at that time. And its various categories of homemade cooked food and bread and pastries are rich enough to solve the problem of residents eating three meals a day, and the children are hungry. To buy New Year goods during the Spring Festival, it is normal for more than a dozen queues at the cash register to queue up. The bus stop outside the mall is still named after this store - "Honghu Wal-Mart" station.
Not only is the scale leading, from the business model, operating philosophy, management system, Wal-Mart and a number of foreign-funded enterprises have introduced modern retail formats into China, changing the pattern of China's local retail industry. There is such a detail, when the staff training, the American coach from the shelf, loading, displaying goods, to cleaning and other details of hand-in-hand teaching. An old employee recalled that the floor had to be cleaned to the point where food fell and could be picked up and eaten.
According to Walmart's official website, Walmart currently operates a variety of formats and brands in China, including Walmart hypermarkets and Sam's Club Stores, which have opened more than 400 stores and 23 distribution centers in more than 100 cities across the country.
However, the data shows that in the more than four years from 2016 to 2020, Walmart China has closed more than 80 stores.
On November 23, according to a number of media reports, the first Wal-Mart store in Shenzhen and even Chinese mainland, Luohu Honghu, will close at the end of the month. In this regard, Wal-Mart replied that the store did not take the initiative to close the store, the closure was due to the owner's failure to renew the lease, and nearby merchants such as the Construction Bank were closing their businesses.
But in fact, Wal-Mart's closure industry is only in line with today's business trends, and it is also working hard to adapt to the development of the times, and has become a "net red" Sam's Club, which has become wal-Mart's future hope.
On November 22, Walmart's official website announced that Sam's Club announced that the number of paid members in China has exceeded 4 million. At present, Sam operates 36 stores in 23 cities and covers most of the country through the e-commerce platform, according to Wal-Mart's global third quarter financial report, Sam China achieved double-digit growth in comparable sales and membership in the current quarter.
It can be seen that whether it is a large-scale store or a small business, it must conform to the development trend of the times and economic conditions in order to maintain a benign operation.