On December 22, some netizens posted on social platforms that Sam's Club, a high-end membership store owned by US retailer Walmart, was "suspected of removing all Xinjiang products."
In recent days, the content about "Sam's removal of Xinjiang products" and "Sam's withdrawal tide" has repeatedly been on the Weibo hot search list. On the morning of December 29, the topic "Sam returned the card" appeared on weibo hot search second.
According to media reports, since December 25, there has been a wave of Sam's members withdrawing cards in Jiangsu, Fujian and other places. Many netizens posted photos of returning cards and not renewing cards, "I can do without Sam, China can't live without Xinjiang", "Nothing is irreplaceable".
Sam is suspected of removing Xinjiang products
Recently, some netizens found that after opening the "Sam's Club" APP and typing the word "Xinjiang" in the search bar, there were many keywords containing "Xinjiang" such as "Xinjiang cantaloupe", "Xinjiang Hotan red dates", "Xinjiang apricots", "Xinjiang raisins" and so on.
However, after clicking on the search for "Xinjiang", you got the result of "Sorry, no related products were found".
Sam's Club Jingdong flagship store and Sam WeChat Mini Program are similar situations. In this regard, according to Red Star News, the customer service of Jingdong Sam's Club replied that this is due to the recent shortage of goods caused by the epidemic, and the goods will be replenished one after another, and the normal arrival cycle is 2-20 days.
In addition to Sam's Club, its parent brand Wal-Mart supermarket has also removed Xinjiang products, and the online mall cannot search for related products. Walmart customer service also said it was due to lack of inventory.
Moreover, some netizens searched for other products and found that if they are out of stock, they can display product pictures and names, not the same as Xinjiang products, and directly search for any product information.
According to the interface news reported on the 29th, in the Sam's Club Beijing Shijingshan store, the previous sale of Korla fragrant pears, Xinjiang dates, Aksu apples and other goods have been quietly removed from the shelves, replaced by jade ice candy pears produced in Shandong, gray dates and other similar goods.
In the entire store, only some of the jade jewelry sold by Chow Tai Fook are stone materials from Hotan in Xinjiang.
The Beijing Shijingshan store is Sam's second store in China and the second largest store in the world in terms of sales within sam's system.
So far, neither Sam's Club nor Walmart has officially responded to the matter on official channels.
How many places have a wave of member withdrawals?
According to the Qianjiang Evening News, in the Hangzhou foodie community, in the past two days, there have been fans who have posted videos of long queues in the store to return the card, and some people said that they were following the trend: "I didn't feel a little loss when I bought the card, and I took this opportunity to simply return." "There are also people who have a Sam's Excellence Card," and if the return card still has to deduct (used) coupons, I will probably have to post money when I return the card." ”
On the morning of the 29th, Ms. Lin, a hangzhou foodie fan, broke the news: "At about 8:45 in the morning, I rushed to the Sam Ding Bridge (Xizi Dinglan) store, and there was already a team of about 50 people in front of me. Wait until Sam opened the door at 9 o'clock, and it took about half an hour to successfully return the card, and there were many people in the back. ”
Image source: Qianjiang Evening News video screenshot
On social media, many netizens posted screenshots of returning cards to the account, photos of returning cards in line, and screenshots of canceling automatic renewal.
According to the Hunan Radio and Television Station City Channel reported on the 29th, in a Sam's Club store in Changsha, members also queued up to return their cards. A number of returning card customers at the scene said that they returned their cards due to Sam's removal of Xinjiang goods.
Image source: Hunan Radio and Television Station City Channel
As a high-end membership store under Walmart, Sam's Club requires consumers to purchase a supermarket annual pass to qualify for shopping.
Currently, sam's regular membership annual fee is $260 and premier membership annual fee is $680.
On November 22 this year, Walmart's official WeChat public account announced that Sam's Club currently operates 36 stores in 23 cities in China, with more than 4 million paid members. If calculated according to the annual membership fee of 260 yuan, the annual income of Sam's Club will be as high as 1.04 billion yuan per year.
Walmart's fiscal 2021 (February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021) results report specifically mentioned Sam's contribution to its China results, saying that "Sam's Club sales were strong, with double-digit growth." ”
On December 29, the Central Broadcasting Network published a commentary article saying that relying on the Chinese market and earning the money of the vast number of Chinese consumers, but behind the scenes, it adopts dirty means to boycott the products produced by this country and the people, so that the behavior of "eating and smashing the pot" is not only a violation of the normal market law, but also a harm to the legitimate rights and interests and emotions of consumers.
It is worth noting that while Sam's suspected 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.
Editor| Lu Xiangyong, Du Hengfeng, Wang Jiaqi
Proofreading | He Xiaotao
Cover image source: Daily Economic News Zhu Xingyun photo infographic
Daily economic news is synthesized from Red Star News, Interface News, Qianjiang Evening News, CCTV, and CCTV