China’s New Open Door Policy

China has made it easier for foreign retailers to set up shop there, by scrapping regulations that required such store operators to work only through joint ventures in designated cities and provincial capitals.

Since China lifted those restrictions earlier this month, reports The Wall Street Journal, retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.) and Carrefour SA (Paris) “can open outlets anywhere in China.”

It is far from certain that global retail giants will focus soon on having wholly owned Chinese stores, the business newspaper notes. But they will be moving to open stores in more places. Wal-Mart, for one, plans 10 to 15 new stores in China in 2005, which would bring its total there to more than 50.

Beth Keck, Wal-Mart’s director of international affairs, told the Journal that the world’s largest retailer soon will take advantage of the chance to operate in all parts of China, but will continue to work in joint ventures, which offer the knowledge of local markets and regulations.

Carrefour, the foreign leader by sales in the Chinese market, has announced it will open 15 stores in the country in 2005, bringing its total to about 60. “Certainly, the new policies will provide us with more opportunities within China,” Todd Wang, a spokesman in the Shanghai headquarters of Carrefour’s China operations told Women’s Wear Daily.