With negative pressure mounting on the U.S. sales results of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) in 2007, the company has been shifting focus on more potentially profitable and more lucrative markets including China and India after failing in Germany and South Korea, the world's largest retailer exited those markets in 2006. It reset its international focus on China and India in 2007 as U.S. sales withered, and the retailer stated this week that 2007 year-to-date sales at most of its stores in China have outpaced sales from the competition by two to three times.Is that impressive? Depends on how you look at it, but when Wal-Mart joined with Chinese retailer Trust-Mart earlier this year to give it an immediate presence in the world's most populous country, it was bound to see good performance in 2007.
Wal-Mart China president and CEO Ed Chan said "This year, we have enjoyed double-digit comp (same store) growth for stores that are open for more than a year ... that is easily two to three times faster than our principal rivals." Double digits? From Wal-Mart? Only overseas, of course. Right now, Wal-Mart operates 94 stores in China, and more are being prepped for 2008 after 2007 saw an additional 24 stores opened. Where Wal-Mart has maxed out sales and saturated markets (the U.S.), it is beefing up international operations, where almost a quarter of the company's revenue now originates.
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