Shitan Sam's Club: It is difficult to find Xinjiang goods, and the number of returnees has not increased significantly

Reporter | Zhao Xiaojuan

Edit | Zan Huifang

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Recently, the content about "Sam's removal of Xinjiang products" and "Sam's withdrawal tide" has repeatedly been on the Weibo hot search list. According to media reports, since December 25, jiangsu, Fujian and other places have seen a large number of Sam's members withdraw cards, the reason is because Sam's Club has removed all Xinjiang products.

On December 29, Interface News visited Sam's Beijing Shijingshan store, sam's second store in China and the second largest store in the world in terms of sales within Sam's system.

In this store, the previously sold Korla fragrant pears, Xinjiang dates, Aksu apples and other commodities have been quietly removed from the shelves, replaced by similar goods such as jade ice candy pears from Shandong and gray dates from Shenzhen.

Interface News asked a number of store staff about the removal of Xinjiang products, and all they got were "unclear" and "arranged by the headquarters to ship" and other similar replies.

The gray dates of Ruoqiang in Xinjiang were replaced. (Photo: Zhao Xiaojuan)

In the entire store, only some of the jade jewelry sold by Chow Tai Fook are stone materials from Hotan in Xinjiang.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo, there are many contents related to "Sam's Card Return Raiders" and the card return event of a certain Sam's shop. In the comments on the relevant content, some netizens said that some users who returned the card were in full before the expiration of the validity period of the membership card, and did not deliberately boycott Sam. Some netizens said that "not returning the card does not mean unpatriotic."

In front of the membership desk at the entrance of Sam's Beijing Shijingshan store and the membership service counter near the cashier, Interface News did not see consumers who came to handle the return card business. A staff member of the membership office said that Sam has always had a corresponding return policy and has not seen a sudden increase in card withdrawals recently.

Sam's removal of Xinjiang products may be related to a bill recently passed by the United States.

On December 23, U.S. President Joe Biden formally signed the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which prohibits the import of all products from Xinjiang unless companies can "prove their innocence" and prove that there is no so-called "forced labor" in the supply chain. This will directly affect the procurement of products by U.S. companies, including Sam.

In this regard, Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, pointed out that behind the rare "efficiency" and "unity" of the US Senate, the House of Representatives and the government is the anxiety and helplessness of the Biden administration in the face of domestic chaos. At present, many problems make Biden helpless, so adopting the method of "internal disease and external treatment" to transfer people's dissatisfaction with the government to external issues, especially aiming the spearhead at strategic opponents, has become an inevitable manipulation of Biden and anti-China forces in the United States.

Up to now, Sam's Chinese officials are still silent on this matter.

The last few years have been Sam's most rapid development in China. Currently, Sam operates 36 stores in 23 cities across China. In November, Sam's Club announced that the number of paid members in China had exceeded 4 million, and Walmart's earnings report repeatedly affirmed Sam's development in China.

Walmart's fiscal 2021 (February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021) results report specifically mentioned Sam's contribution to its Performance in China, saying that "Sam's Club sales were strong, with double-digit growth." ”

While Sam's removal of Xinjiang products has caused consumer dissatisfaction, its competitors are taking advantage of the opportunity to card slots.

On December 28, Hema Suzhou X Member Store announced that in January 2022, there is no need to apply for Hema X membership, and Sam or Costco membership cards can also be experienced at Hema X membership stores. In addition, the store also uses Xinjiang products such as Ruoqiang gray dates and Aksu apples as the first products of the "Xinjiang Good Things Festival".

On the home page of METRO's APP, the theme of "Discover Xinjiang, Customize Sweetness for You" is set up, and it is also increasing the promotion of Xinjiang products such as pumpkin, fragrant pear, raisins, apples, and cotton pads in Xinjiang.