Supermarket chains in China are having a rough go of it. There was a sign of relief last year when China dropped its draconian COVID movement restrictions, with observers expecting a surge in shoppers flocking to big-box stores after being confined to their homes for months on end. It didn’t happen.
The reasons range from evolving consumer preferences to e-commerce to infighting among partnered firms. So far this year, retail sales for China’s supermarkets have fallen by 0.4% vs. comparable 2022 figures, despite a 6.8% rise overall for consumer goods during the same period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The consumer sector has been buoyed particularly by services over the past few months, with solid growth in hospitality and catering, IT and software, transport, warehousing, postal services, and financial services. Eight of China’s 13 publicly traded supermarket operators either lost money or saw their revenues decline in the first half of this year, according to company financial filings. Growth is either negative or in the single digits for department stores and chain convenience stores, as well. Meanwhile, online retail sales are up 11.6% in the first nine months this year, according to data from the statistics bureau. Carre …
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