Wal-Mart plans to double China stores in five years by Microsoft Windows XP

Filed under: Rumors, Competitive management, Wal-Mart (WMT), China

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has said that it plans to increase its store count in China by more than 100% within five years. The world's largest retailer, which has been wrestling with slower sales in its largest market (the U.S.) recently had a better-than-expected June but sees that international growth is most likely the only way to continue growing at somewhere close to a double-digit rate given that it has $344 billion in annual sales per year now. Growing that even in the higher single digits is a feat of huge proportions.

But then again, China is potentially the largest market ever for any retailer. Its population is more than triple of the U.S. and the booming economy is giving way for more citizens to have increasing disposable income. Hence, they'll hopefully be future Wal-Mart customers, hopes Bentonville.

Right now, the retailer has 84 stores across 46 Chinese cities. From reading this morning's news, Wal-Mart wants to grow that to at least 168 stores by 2012 in order to take a 20% market share in China when the five-year expansion is complete. Oddly, there appears to be wide-open potential in the lucrative China market, and I agree with a Wal-Mart Asia executive who said "to date, no real market leader has emerged and our eyes are on market leadership of some sort." Wal-Mart apparently does not see a cut-and-dry discount retailer leader in China, and as such, has its eyes set on that goal. I wonder if Wal-Mart will buy from Chinese vendors en masse like it does now only to sell those goods right back to Chinese citizens?