Submitted by: Submitted by nguyentatthinh07
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Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 05/14/2010 07:40 AM
The 2005 Global
Retail Development Index
Destination: China
THE RED DRAGON BECKONS. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR RETAILERS TO GROW
QUICKLY, SELL TO THE WORLD’S LARGEST EMERGING MARKET AND ESTAB-
LISH AN ASIAN BEACHHEAD IS VERY REAL. BUT CHINA’S INCREDIBLE
PROMISE HAS NOT GONE UNNOTICED — LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL PLAY-
ERS ALIKE ARE STEPPING UP THEIR ACTIVITY. AS THE RIVALRY INTENSIfiES,
RETAILERS THAT SIT ON THE SIDELINES WILL SOON fiND THAT THE TIME
TO MAKE A MOVE HAS PASSED.
AS THE SUN RISES IN CHENGDU IN THE
SICHUAN PROVINCE, MIN LAU IS CYCLING
TO WORK AND SMILING. LIKE MANY OF
THE OTHER 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE IN HIS
COUNTRY, MIN HAS PLENTY TO SMILE
ABOUT. HIS COUNTRY’S ECONOMY HAS
BEEN GROWING AT AN INCREDIBLE CLIP, LED
BY ADVANCES IN THE RETAIL SECTOR. AS A
MEMBER OF CHINA’S EMERGING MIDDLE
CLASS, MIN CAN VISIT HIS LOCAL SUPERMAR-
KET FOR AFFORDABLE NEW PRODUCTS AND
WILL SOON BE ABLE TO VISIT A CARREFOUR
HYPERMARKET THAT IS SETTING UP SHOP
NEARBY. THINGS ARE CERTAINLY LOOKING
GOOD, NOT ONLY FOR MIN, BUT ALSO FOR
THE INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL RETAILERS SO
EAGER TO SERVE HIM.
Promising Conditions
MANY INTERNATIONAL RETAILERS VIEW THE
WORLD’S MOST POPULOUS NATION AS THE
CARDINAL COMPONENT IN THEIR INTERNA-
TIONAL EXPANSION PLANS. THAT’S LITTLE
SURPRISE: VALUED AT MORE THAN US$628
BILLION AND GROWING IN EXCESS OF 9
PERCENT EACH YEAR, CHINA’S RETAIL MAR-
KET IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE LARGEST EMERG-
ING OPPORTUNITY IN THE WORLD (SEE
fiGURE 1 ON THE NEXT PAGE). ACCORDING
TO THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS
OF CHINA, THE COUNTRY’S COMPOUND
ANNUAL GROWTH RATE (CAGR) TOPPED
9 PERCENT OVER THE PAST fiVE YEARS, AND
THIS PACE IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE, WITH
AN AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF 8
PERCENT FOR THE NEXT fiVE YEARS.
THIS RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS
HELPED CREATE A LARGE, AFflUENT MIDDLE
CLASS. THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF
SOCIAL SCIENCES REPORTS THAT IN 2003,
ROUGHLY ONE-fiFTH OF THE POPULATION
WAS MIDDLE CLASS, AND BY 2020, THIS
NUMBER...