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Chad Catacchio
Chad Catacchio is a contributor writing on a variety of topics in tech. He has held management positions at a number of tech companies in th Chad Catacchio is a contributor writing on a variety of topics in tech. He has held management positions at a number of tech companies in the US and China. Check out his personal blog to connect with him or follow him on Twitter (if you dare).
Walmart has announced that in order to test the market, it will start an e-commerce site for its Sam’s Club memberships stores in China.
The move most likely has two motivations. First, Walmart will be able to test and refine its e-commerce offering through the much smaller (especially in China) Sam’s Club before expanding to offer online sales through a dedicated Walmart site. Second, Walmart may also be able to gain traction for Sam’s Club through the online store. However, with only four physical Sam’s Club stores in China – compared to the 183 super-Walmart stores on the Mainland – the first motivation is almost certainly the overwhelming driver.
According to the Dow Jones, Walmart’s head of e-commerce, Eduardo Castro-Wright said last week that the world’s largest retailer expects that the e-commerce market as a whole in China will catch up to the United States within five years. Walmart spokesman Kevin Gardner would not give a timetable on when a Walmart focused e-commerce site would open.
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