Retail chain store Wumart says "goodbye" to Wal-Mart
05 Jul '05
6 min read
Wumart has certainly left Wal-Mart for dust in China, mainly because of restrictions on foreign companies operating in the country. Wal-Mart entered China nine years ago, the year after the first Wumart opened, and only has 49 stores to date.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman admits that the growth is slower than the company would have liked. The great Wal of America is not as yet mighty as it had hoped to be.
The Wal-Mart official acknowledges the similarities between Wumart and Wal-Mart's names but echoes Wenzhong's point that the characters in Chinese are different.
"We really haven't felt like it's created any kind of confusion with the customers," she says.
However, both groups sell cheap products from large stores, and both have a conspicuous blue logo.
Earlier this year Wumart "adopted" 100 elderly single people who live near its stores and is now sending them monthly food parcels. It is the kind of community-friendly PR stunt that Wal-Mart and its UK chain, Asda, tend to use.
Anyway, Wumart's rude health could result in it being snapped up by one of its international competitors.
"We see Wumart as an attractive take-over target for larger players keen on the Greater Beijing market," said Citigroup in a note earlier this month.
The tantalising prospect of Wal-Mart buying Wumart at some point in the future cannot be ruled out.
Wenzhong is phlegmatic: "As you know we have a very enjoyable growthrate, a good net margin and a competitive team here. But from my point of view anybody wanting to buy Wumart has to show us something new.
marketing@alchempro.com
