Aggressive expansion to counter international giants

According to Liang Wei, CEO of Lianhua Supermarket Holding, they are planning to open 1,200 new, modern stores. Their main competitors in the struggle for dominance in the Chinese retail market worth USD 1,000 billion a year, are Wal-Mart Stores and Carrefour. Others like Metro, Tesco or the Chinese Wumart are also major players. Most of the Lianhua stores are located in the wealthier eastern region. The chain is composed of 1,960 convenience stores, 1,652 supermarkets and 104 hyper markets. Competition is intense, with Carrefour and Wal-Mart achieving growth of 53 and 30 per cent respectively.