Suning.com plans to open more than 200 stores inside Carrefour China hypermarkets later this month.
The store rollout follows Suning.com’s acquisition of an 80-per-cent controlling interest in the Carrefour China business last June, a deal approved by Chinese regulatory authorities last month.
Analysts say the store openings represent a strategic push by Suning.com to ramp up the loss-making Carrefour business by giving consumers more reason to visit the store – and hoping they will shop at Carrefour while they are there.
The move comes just five months after Carrefour China revealed plans to partner with Chinese retail group Gome opening 200 stores-in-stores by July. That deal is now over and the stores that had opened under the Gome banner are being converted to Suning.com.
The new shops will sell smartphones and consumer appliances. A spokesman for Suning.com told Chinese media that the stores will be tailored to local communities.
Carrefour China has 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores across the mainland.