Shopping is becoming easier and more enjoyable in Chinese supermarkets: it is easier for shoppers to inspect products before making the purchase, the shopping environment is more comfortable, and most important of all, things are much cheaper.
Chain-supermarkets are challenging traditional counter-sale shops as the mainstream form of retail sales today.
According to the ongoing second China chain-store conference, the chain-store company "Lianhua" has become China's largest retailer with an annual sales volume of 7.3 billion yuan (US$879 million).
By comparison, the Shanghai First Department Store Company, the largest retailer among traditional shops, registered a sales volume of 6.1 billion yuan (US$734 million).
Lianhua has over 800 stores across the country, and its sales volume this year is expected to top 10 billion yuan (US$1.20 billion).
Five chain-store companies are in the list of top-ten retailers and the growth rate for chain-stores in terms of sales volume, is far faster than that of traditional department stores. The Wumei chain-store in Beijing and Suguo in Nanjing, for instance, have both recorded a growth rate of over 60 percent over the past two years.
However, in the less developed regions in west China, department stores still dominate the retail market.
(Xinhua 11/06/20000)
