In recent years, Wal-Mart has been adjusting its store closure. According to the statistics of Lianshang.com, Wal-Mart closed five stores in China in 212, 15 stores in 213, 17 stores in 214, 1 store in 215 and 13 stores in 216, and the tide of closing stores in 217 continues.

Wal-Mart closes stores intensively

On May 3, Lianshang. com learned that two Wal-Mart stores in Zhengzhou, Jinshui Road Store and Daxue Road Store, will be closed on May 17 this year. At present, the stores have posted notices of closure. By then, Wal-Mart will only have one Zhongyuan Wanda store in Zhengzhou. Coincidentally, Wal-Mart's Quzhou store also issued a closure notice today, and will stop business on May 1th.

From March 2nd this year, Wal-Mart's Changsha Gao Qiao Store, Beijing Wangjing Store and Guangzhou Tianli Store will be closed in one day.

On March 16th, Wal-Mart Suzhou Modern Avenue Store also posted a notice of closure;

Then in April, Wal-Mart Hefei Shengli Road Store and Ma 'anshan Road Store successively issued closure announcements;

Wal-Mart Changshu Haiyu South Road Store will be closed on April 26th;

Then, the only Wal-Mart supermarket in Shijiazhuang was closed on May 2nd.

In other words, in just two months, Wal-Mart closed eight stores in China.

Loss is the reason for closing the store.

A senior local retail observer said, "We knew the news that Wal-Mart was going to close the store as early as a month ago, so it's not sudden. Loss is the main reason for closing the store. Otherwise, why should we close it well? Of course, the future road stores are greatly affected by road construction, and the rent is also high. In addition, the losses will naturally not continue. However, these two stores may face compensation from the property owners because the lease has not expired. "

lianshang. com noted that in 215, the performance of some Wal-Mart stores in China was exposed due to the public selling of shares by SZITIC.

In the announcement of SZITIC, the sales performance of Future Road Store at the end of May 213, 214 and 215 was disclosed. Its annual sales scale was about 1 million yuan, and its profits were-5.64 million yuan,-7.71 million yuan and-3.7 million yuan respectively. At the same time, the store's total net assets were-41.4848 million yuan.

However, Wal-Mart did not respond positively to this matter, but only gave an explanation to optimize the commercial layout. "We will negotiate with the owner in a friendly way and handle the follow-up matters legally and reasonably." Li Chengfang said.

Hu Chuncai, general manager of Shanghai Shangyi Consulting, believes that from the perspective of the whole industry, the format of hypermarkets is on the decline track for several reasons:

First, the impact of e-commerce has taken away most of the high-margin goods, and the total gross profit loss supporting hypermarkets may be 3-4%;

Second, it has been 2 years since the hypermarket entered China. Many stores have expired their leases (usually 15-2 years), and they are under the pressure of the property owner's rent doubling. I am afraid that the stores that were originally profitable will have to close down.

these two core factors are the important reasons that lead to a large number of closed stores in hypermarkets.

In addition, supermarkets are also attacked by community supermarkets such as Lecheng Fresh Legend and Jinhaolai Kitchen Fresh Life. For popular products, consumers only need to buy them in the nearby community supermarkets. These community supermarkets as small as several hundred square meters can basically meet the daily needs of consumers. These small stores are attached to the supermarkets like capillaries to grab food business.

"The attack from the upper and lower ends has gradually put the format of hypermarkets that were once competitive in China's supermarkets at a disadvantage. Although the competitiveness of foreign-funded retail enterprises is relatively strong, because the format of hypermarkets is generally in a downward trend, they have to enter the tide of closing stores. "

Not only Wal-Mart, but also other large supermarkets continue to close their stores.

This is the normal business situation. The current tide of closing stores is not a signal of the decline of traditional retail, but a true portrayal of the positive transformation of the supermarket industry.

Scott Price, global executive vice president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart's international department, explained the closing of the store in an interview. "Just like the growth of plants, if you want plants to grow healthily, there are always some branches that need pruning. Wal-Mart's development in a place always depends on the development in the next 3 years, including the development of local business districts, the growth of local population, the construction of road infrastructure and the development of the whole market, etc. We will make a forecast on this basis, but this forecast may not fully reflect the actual situation as time goes by, and some stores will fail to serve local customers well. At this time, we will choose to close some stores. For the healthy development of retail, it is very important to manage the combination of store business and ensure the healthy development of the store as a whole. "

While closing stores, Wal-Mart is also accelerating the layout of its stores.

according to the statistics of lianshang. com, in 216, Wal-Mart opened 24 new stores in China, including 21 hypermarkets and 3 Sam member stores, which exceeded expectations. At the same time, 6 stores have been upgraded. It is reported that in 217, Wal-Mart will open 3-4 new stores, including hypermarkets and Sam member stores, and upgrade 5 existing stores.

Obviously, Wal-Mart's adjustment strategy has achieved results.

Wal-Mart's global financial report for fiscal year 217 shows that in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 217, Wal-Mart's total sales in China increased by 5.4%, comparable sales increased by 2.3%, and comparable customer unit price increased by 5.2%. The performance pull mainly benefited from the growth of comparable sales in hypermarkets and Sam member stores.

closing stores is the adjustment of the ecological structure of the whole format, especially in the transformation and adjustment of hypermarkets. At present, the proportion of hypermarkets in China is too high, reaching 7-8%, while in the Japanese market, the convenience store format accounts for the highest proportion.