China government has launched a series of policies to promote the rapid, healthy and orderly development of the retail industry in China since 1992. Currently, the retail industry has developed rapidly, its scale has expanded continuously, the layout of all the ownerships has formed, the enterprise modernization level has improved, the large-scale retail enterprises has grown fast, and the pattern of opening-up has formed as well.

Presently, there are six retail formats in China, shopping center, department store, supermarket, convenience store, specialty store and non-store selling. The retail industry has become the field with the highest marketization level after over two decades' reform. Currently, there are a large number of the retail enterprises and more than 15 million of the retail networks, so the circulating network covering the urban and rural areas is formed. There were 55, 000 large-scale chain retail stores all over China in 2004, up 18% compared to 2003; the operation area increased 26.5%, and the retail turnover rose 30.2%, accounting for 9.6% in the total retail turnover of the consumption. The sales of retail enterprises in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Shenzhen etc all exceeded 20% in the total retail turnover.

The research of the overall retail industry in 2005 in China by National Bureau of Statistics, the chain retail in China had been in a rapid expansion and development period, and the growth pace of shops in the second and third-level cities was 2-3 times of the first-level cities. In addition, the entry amount of the foreign-funded retail enterprises grew fast, and 1, 027 foreign-funded enterprises were approved to establish by Ministry of Commerce only in 2005.

Key Foreign-funded Chain Retail Enterprises

 
Note: Numbers with * are estimated

Chinese government continued to push the deep and refined management of the Market Project of Thousands of Villages and Townships, Two Hundred Markets Project etc in 2006, launched a series of document to standardize the market competition order in order to deepen and standardize the retail market competition and retail supply; continued to deepen Urban Business Network Management Statutes around China, Evaluation Methods on Retail Industry etc. So from the above, it can be concluded that Chinese government has attached great importance to the retail industry.

Since the area in China is so wide that the retail formats of the retail industry are with the development levels and trends in different regions. In the new development period of the retail industry, the retail industry in China was faced with various opportunities and challenges. According to the forecast, the annual growth level will reach 14% from 2007 to 2010, and the market capacity will amount to RMB 8.6 trillion in 2007, and it will reach 12.81 trillion in 2010.

Overall, Chinese government has attached great importance to the retail industry, and various opportunities and challenges, such as the foreign investment, will bring the self perfect of the enterprises, so the retail industry in China has the wider development room.

2. Key Domestic Retail Enterprises in China 
2.1 Shanghai Bailian Group Co., Ltd 
2.1.1 Production and Sales 
2.1.2 Operation 
2.1.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.1.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.1.3 Development Strategies 
2.2 Dalian Dashang Group Co., Ltd 
2.2.1 Production and Sales 
2.2.2 Operation 
2.2.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.2.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.2.3 Development Strategies 
2.3 Beijing Gome 
2.3.1 Production and Sales 
2.3.2 Operation  
2.3.3 Development Strategies 
2.4 Shandong Sanlian Commercial Co., Ltd 
2.4.1 Production and Sales 
2.4.2 Operation 
2.4.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.4.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.4.3 Development Strategies 
2.5 Beijing Wangfujing Department Store (Group) Co., Ltd 
2.5.1 Production and Sales 
2.5.2 Operation 
2.5.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.5.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.5.3 Development Strategies 
2.6 Beijing Wu Mart 
2.6.1 Production and Sales 
2.6.2 Operation 
2.6.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.6.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.6.3 Development Strategies 
2.7 Suning Appliance Chain Store Group Co., Ltd 
2.7.1 Production and Sales 
2.7.2 Operation 
2.7.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.7.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.7.3 Development Strategies 
2.8 Hualian Supermarket Co., Ltd 
2.8.1 Production and Sales 
2.8.2 Operation 
2.8.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.8.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1 
2.8.3 Development Strategies 
2.9 Shanghai Lianhua 
2.9.1 Production and Sales 
2.9.2 Operation 
2.9.2.1 Operation, 2005 
2.9.2.2 Operation, 2006 H1
2.9.3 Development Strategies 

3 Foreign-funded Enterprises 
3.1 Wal Mart 
3.1.1 Company Profile 
3.1.2 Development in China 
3.2 Carrefour 
3.2.1 Company Profile 
3.2.2 Development in China 
3.3 Lotus Center 
3.3.1 Company Profile 
3.3.2 Development in China 
3.4 Metro 
3.4.1 Company Profile 
3.4.2 Development in China
3.5 CR Vanguard 
3.5.1 Company Profile 
3.5.2 Development in China
3.6 Suguo 
3.6.1 Company Profile 
3.6.2 Development in China
3.7 Trust-Mart 
3.7.1 Company Profile 
3.7.2 Development in China
3.8 Parkson 
3.8.1 Company Profile 
3.8.2 Development in China
3.9 Makro 
3.9.1 Company Profile 
3.9.2 Development in China

4 Regional Development of Retail Industry in China 
4.1 Regional Development, 2004 
4.1.1 Summary 
4.1.2 Market Evaluation 
4.1.3 Characteristics  
4.1.3.1 Clear Urban Development Ladder 
4.1.3.2 Clear Difference of Regional Development 
4.2 North China 
4.2.1 Summary 
4.2.2 Key Retail Enterprises 
4.3 East China 
4.3.1 Summary 
4.3.2 Key Retail Enterprises
4.4 Central China 
4.4.1 Summary 
4.4.2 Key Retail Enterprises
4.5 South China 
4.5.1 Summary 
4.5.2 Key Retail Enterprises
4.6 Northeast 
4.6.1 Summary 
4.6.2 Key Retail Enterprises 
4.7 Southwest 
4.7.1 Summary 
4.7.2 Key Retail Enterprises
4.8 Northwest 
4.8.1 Summary 
4.8.2 Key Retail Enterprises
4.9 Brief Summary 
4.10 Evaluation on Regional Retail Development

5 Industry Analysis 
5.1 Entry of WTO 
5.2 Opportunities 
5.2.1 Organic Foods 
5.2.2 Non-food Retail 
5.2.3 Foreign Direct Investment 
5.2.4 Luxurious Products 
5.2.5 Convenience Store 
5.2.6 Packaged Fast-frozen Food 
5.2.7 Suppliers and Retailers 
5.2.8 Private Brands 
5.3 Challenges 
5.3.1 Competition among the Retailers 
5.3.2 Industry Policies 
5.3.3 Anti-monopoly Policies 
5.3.4 Unsafe Foods 
5.3.5 Supply Chain 
5.3.6 Excellent Professional Talents 
5.3.7 Fake and Pirate 
5.4 Merger & Acquisition Trend 
5.4.1 Oversea Trial 
5.4.2 Strong-strong Combination 
5.4.3 Share-taking of Foreign Fund 
5.4.4 Operation with Many Formats 
5.4.5 Merger and Acquisition of the Second-level Cities 
5.5 Forecast of Future Development 
5.5.1 Acquisition and Merger, the Main Mean of Retail Industry Strategy Investment 
5.5.2 Format development standardizes gradually, and innovation becomes the format competition advantage