Walmart has finally sealed the deal on its investment in Chinese e-commerce site YiHaoDian.com. We reported on its announcement back in May – but the transaction seems to have taken longer than the expected two months to nail down.
The giant American retailer now takes an undisclosed minority stake in YiHaoDian. Walmart is very interested in the Chinese e-commerce scene, having also invested – with five other firms – the sum of US$500 million in 360Buy back in December of last year. Walmart is reportedly also considering an e-commerce site of its own, despite its two ongoing stakes in competing companies.
YiHaoDian’s chairman, Yu Gang, told the Chinese press that there would be strategic cooperation between his firm and Walmart as part of the deal – such as sharing suppliers, warehousing and logistics. At present, YiHaoDian.com already has a strong network, supporting online shoppers in 27 large cities across China, with 90 distribution centres. Mr Yu added:
By the end of this year, YiHaoDian will have expanded its distribution network, and plans to reach more than 30 cities.
He also indicated that his e-commerce site might consider selling Walmart-branded products, such as its budget food items.
YiHaoDian is also experimenting with virtual supermarkets in some Shanghai subway stations – see it over on the Shanghaiist blog – which allow people to shop for items just by scanning a QR code on their smartphone, which triggers a purchase within the store’s iPhone or Android apps.
[Source: Sina Tech news – article in Chinese]
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