Wal-Mart plans to open 40 hypermarkets every year

The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart said on Wednesday in Beijing that it plans to open 30 to 40 hypermarkets in China every year, and to increase the proportion of compact hypermarkets in the country. These stores are nearly 40 percent smaller than the usual.

Currently, Wal-Mart has more than 400 hypermarkets in China, including three compact hypermarkets. These compact stores have more restaurants and service-oriented shops, and more automatic facilities such as self-service weighing machines and self-service checkout desks.

"As one of the fastest-growing markets globally, China has a significant room for growth, and we plan to do more innovations in the forms of operation," said Wern-Yuen Tan, president of Wal-Mart Stores China.

"At those compact hypermarkets, we will put more efforts in distributing more fresh food, and raise the proportion of fresh food in the stores, to cater to the high-end and various demand of younger consumers," he said.

Meanwhile, the retail giant said it will launch more products of its own brands, including snacks and tissues, at its hypermarkets in China. Wal-Mart said the proportion of the products in its own brands will increase from 5 percent to about 10 to 15 percent, and they will carry price tags that are about 30 percent cheaper than the peers.

In more than 20 years of operation in China, Wal-Mart has built three brands in the country, including Wal-Mart hypermarket, the Sam's Club membership store, and Yihaodian, the retailer's Chinese online offering.