Wal-Mart is aggressively expanding its presence in China, not just in physical stores but also online. The company just announced that it has acquired a minority stake in a Chinese eCommerce company.
Wal-Mart announced that it was working with Chinese ecommerce solution Yihaodian to acquire a minority stake in the company. The move represents another step in Wal-Mart’s slow, steady march into China, their continued action within the Chinese ecommerce sphere, and their shoring up position in the world of ecommerce solutions across the board.
China is indisputably one of biggest economic markets in the world, in terms of real world operations and ecommerce solutions. Wal-Mart first entered the Chinese market in 1996 and now has 189 stores in 101 cities. They also own a 35% stake in “Bounteous Company,” a business that runs “hypermarkets” (something between a mall and a giant department store and a super-Wal-Mart). The news comes hot on the heels of Wal-Mart’s recent plans to roll out smaller stores in more urban US markets and focus more on their ecommerce solution.
Founded in 2008, Yihaodian is an extremely fast-growing ecommerce solution with over 75,000 products. They boast over 2000 employees and have a business network encompassing the cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Their catalog encompasses everything from groceries to computers and electronics. They offer next-day service for a variety of products including toys, apparel, and kids stuff. The deal is set to be closed within the next 60 days and will be a great boon for Wal-Mart’s Chinese operations.
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