Wal-Mart China : Newsstand of Wal-Mart

Provincial government officials and Wal-Mart’s senior management attended the ceremony, including Mr. Zhou Jianwei, Executive Vice Governor of Hubei Province, Mr. Li Tao, Vice Mayor of Wuhan, Mr. Lee Scott, President & CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Mr. Joe Hatfield, Senior Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., President & CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, Mr. Andrew Tsuei, Vice President – Managing Director of Wal-Mart Global Procurement, Mr. Cassian Cheung, Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., President of Wal-Mart China and Mr. James Lee, Vice President of Wal-Mart China.

At the ceremony, government officials expressed warm welcome to Wal-Mart and hoped that Wal-Mart would introduce advanced retail technology and concepts to Wuhan, and drive the development of local logistics and manufacturing industry.

Mr. Cassian Cheung said, during the past eight years, Wal-Mart had opened 39 stores in 19 cities, and won favor from local consumers through its Every Day Low Price and aggressive services. The Supercenter in Wuhan is Wal-Mart’s 40th outlet in China. Wal-Mart hopes to promote Wuhan’s economic development and gain popularity among Wuhan citizens.

Wal-Mart Supercenter Wuhan Zhongshan Road Branch is conveniently located at Minsheng Road, Jianghan District. It has a business area of about 13,000 square meters and provides about 18,000 kinds of merchandise. The Supercenter has set three new records in China----the first Supercenter to have Vision Center and Jewelry Department and the first Supercenter to operate Photo Center from grand opening. The Photo Center has a new self-service digital photo developing machine which can develop digital photos in 11 seconds. Besides, old photo face-lifting service is available.

Supercenter is Wal-Mart’s major business format in China and aims to provide customers with high quality merchandise at low prices and aggressive service. It helps to save customers time and money by offering one-stop shopping experience. To appreciate the customers in Wuhan, Wal-Mart offers price promotion for a series of products and various retailtainment during the grand opening.

As its long commitment to community, Wal-Mart donates RMB200,000 to China Preventive Medicine Association Wuhan Office to build a Tooth Care Center in Wuhan Children’s Hospital and provide 500 children free medical treatment on their decayed teeth.

Wal-Mart China opened its first Supercenter and SAM’S CLUB in August 1996 in Shenzhen. Since then, Wal-Mart China has opened 39 stores in 19 cities, including Shenzhen, Kunming, Fuzhou, Dalian, Xiamen, Shantou, Dongguan, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Changsha, Beijing, Nanchang, Ji'nan, Qingdao, Tianjin, Nanjing, Nanning and Guiyang. Wuhan Zhongshan Road Branch is Wal-Mart’s 40th outlet.

Wal-Mart promotes the corporate culture of “Respect for the Individual, Service to Our Customers and Strive for Excellence” and is committed to providing high quality low-priced products and warm and friendly service to customers. The company procured over USD15 billion of merchandise directly and indirectly in China in 2003, making positive contributions to China’s economic and foreign trade development. Wal-Mart also takes an active role in welfare causes. Since 1997, Wal-Mart China has donated over RMB10.73 million to social welfare agencies, education cause and disaster areas.

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer. In 2003 Wal-Mart achieved global sales of USD256.3 billion and topped the Fortune Global 500 for three consecutive years. It also ranked No. 1 in the “American’s Most Admired Companies” by Fortune magazine in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The company was named as one of the “Most Admired Companies” and the “Best Companies to Work for” in many countries. At present Wal-Mart has over 1.5 million associates worldwide and operates over 5500 stores in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, Germany and UK.