sam’s club on the way

1、<p>　　Sam’s Club On The Way</p><p>　　There are plenty of reports about Wal-Mart closing hypermarkets in the first- and second-tier cities in China， but recession is not the only thing WalMart has brough

2、t to the country. Presently， it is putting more efforts into recruiting more members for its Sam’s Club. </p><p>　　According to Li Ling， a senior director of Wal-Mart’s business decisions in China， Sam’s Clu

3、b is now busy expanding its forces in the big cities of China. Their goal is to establish two outlets every year. </p><p>　　Sam’s Club is a chain of membership-based warehouse clubs. It was founded in 1983 a

4、nd named after Sam Walton， the founder of Wal-Mart. It entered China in 1996 when Wal-Mart established the first Chinese Sam’s Club in Shenzhen， Guangdong. </p><p>　　However， the pace of expansion of Sam’s C

5、lub has been much slower than Wal-Mart supermarkets in China. From 1996 to 2013， while only ten outlets of Sam’s Club were opened， Wal-Mart took China by storm， establishing around 400 supermarkets in total. </p>

6、<p>　　The ten existing outlets of Sam’s Club in China are now located in Shenzhen （two）， Beijing （two）， Shanghai， Fuzhou， Guangzhou， Dalian， Hangzhou and Suzhou. </p><p>　　The Prosperous Club </p>

7、<p>　　In spite of the small number， Sam’s Club has made remarkable contributions to Wal-Mart， with the Sam’s Club located by Nonglin Road， Shenzhen， having been the sales revenue champion among all Wal-Mart outlet

8、s for three straight years. </p><p>　　Mrs. Li did not reveal the detailed figure about the sales， but she confirmed the championship status of Sam’s Club in Shenzhen. She also recognized that the two Sam’s C

9、lubs in Beijing are in the“Top 10 Wal-Mart Outlets” in terms of sales revenue. </p><p>　　But what has contributed to Sam’s Clubs achieving such high levels of success？ Mrs. Li attributes it to the specialize

10、d nature of the business. She has explained that， while Sam’s Clubs have fewer categories of products， they have a greater price-performance. The supermarkets of Wal-Mart usually host over 10 thousand kinds of products，

11、with only 4，000-5，000 kinds of products being available in Sam’s Clubs. For example， Chinese Sam’s Clubs have a wide variety of imported food on sale， some of whi</p><p>　　Another factor influencing the reso

12、unding success is the membership fee. Sam’s Club is a warehouse retailer providing exclusive services for its members. In China， the membership fee for Sam’s Club is 150 yuan. Presently， there are 1.7 million members， co

13、ntributing 255 million yuan to its revenue annually. This has led to Sam’s Clubs becoming an important source of income and profits for Wal-Mart. 　　On November 14， 2013， WalMart published its financial report of Q3， 201

14、3， stating that it had ac</p><p>　　The Problems of Locations and Renting </p><p>　　According to Li Ling， Wal-Mart has already laid the plan for establishing seven more outlets of Sam’s Club in C

15、hina. The contracts have been signed and the preparatory work has begun. </p><p>　　What this means is that Wal-Mart is going to accelerate the pace of expansion of Sam’s Clubs in China， but this is easier sa

16、id than done. </p><p>　　The biggest problem being faced is the lack of suitable locations. There is very little space left in China’s central business districts for more develop-ment， let alone for a warehou

17、se store of such magnitude to be developed and thrive. </p><p>　　In addition， due to the sheer number of members， Sam’s Clubs usually require a great number of parking lots， occupying even more unavailable s

18、pace. On June 29， 2013， after the Suzhou Sam’s Club was opened， Andrew Miles， CEO of Sam’s Clubs， said to the media that “90% of the members of Sam’s Clubs come to shopping by car. So it is necessary for a Sam’s Club sto

19、re to have enough parking lots to ensure its success.” But the demand usually cannot be met in the downtown area and the rent is too high </p><p>　　Andrew Miles also disclosed that there were seven outlets w

20、hose contracts had been signed， which were to be opened in the next two to three years based on the rented property projects. </p><p>　　An anonymous director of a Shanghai-based retail company said that rent

21、ing property projects for the outlets of Sam’s Club is actually quite risky. This is because it usually takes a long time to build a Sam’s Club store， and longer to foster the store to a level of profitability； with the

22、entire process usually taking 10-15 years. This isn’t helped by property prices in China dramatically changing everyday. This， however， does attract property developers， with quite a few companies indicating t</p>

23、<p>　　Sam’s Club is also facing competition from the other firms in China， such as Metro. Metro is a Germany-based chain retailer and shares a similar busi- ness pattern with Wal Mart’s Sam’s Club. In 2013， Metro s

24、ped up its development in China last year establishing 12 stores in this country， a sharp contrast with the 3-4 new stores every year in the past. The PR director of Metro China said that it was going to establish the sa

25、me number， if not larger， of stores in China in 2014 compared with that </p><p>　　Chen Yi， a senior retail analyst， has made the observation that Metro and Sam’s Club are going to be a pair of equal forces i

26、n the chain of warehouse retail in the Chinese market within the next few years. </p><p>　　Despite this new threat of competition， Wal-Mart， according to Mrs. Li， sees Metro as a strong opponent， but they ha

27、ve indicated that they are not afraid of the competition. However， In order to win this rivalry， Sam’s Club is going to turn to a rapidly developing form of retail， e-commerce. According to Mrs. Li， Sam’s Club is now pla