Walmart closed 150 stores, implicitly announcing the rise of e-commerce platforms!

Carrefour Europe withdraws from China.

Germany's Metro withdraws from China.

British Tesco withdraws from China.

Walmart in the United States closed 150 stores.

Have you noticed that in recent years, not only Samsung, Apple and other foreign manufacturing companies have moved their factories out of the Chinese market, but many of the above-mentioned international retail giants have also gradually withdrawn from the Chinese market. Take Walmart as an example. Data shows that in the nine years from 2012 to 2021, the number of stores closed in China has reached more than 150. Especially in recent years, store closures have become more frequent. Although Walmart is still insisting on the domestic market in China, according to the "2020 China Supermarket Top 100 List" released in July this year, it can be seen that Walmart China has fallen out of the top three and ushered in the worst ranking since entering the Chinese market. So if this trend continues, its future development in the Chinese market may not be optimistic.

Judging from the fact that Walmart's offline stores are now closing down, it has to be said that the trend of e-commerce has slowly begun to take hold in the mainstream, especially as our domestic economy and technology are developing and rising, and domestic brands are growing stronger, squeezing the living space and market of foreign-funded enterprises in China.

Export trade has also gradually reached a peak state , so many brands and service providers have begun to invest in cross-border e-commerce platforms. Walmart is one of them that has gradually transformed from offline to online, allowing foreign countries to begin to understand the strength of Chinese brands. This is also the wild growth that everyone has seen since 2017. Now export trade is no longer difficult. From the data of the two major e-commerce platforms, Amazon and Walmart, we can see that more and more buyers are beginning to choose online.

In this era of rapid development of informatization, we will definitely be more inclined towards branding and differentiation for the future development of Walmart's e-commerce platform. This is also the choice and consideration of many e-commerce sellers. Differentiation is also the foundation for all sellers to gain a foothold in the Walmart e-commerce platform in the future. Not to mention Walmart, even Amazon is the same. Although Walmart's e-commerce platform is still very complete, judging from the closure of its stores in China, it may definitely strengthen and improve its e-commerce platform in the future.

We can recall this series of operations. From the very beginning, we attracted domestic investment, and then guided it in this direction step by step. It did not mean that we switched to online all at once, but we moved forward step by step. Now, the entire Walmart e-commerce platform has taken shape, and gradually some sellers have started to sell hot products on the platform. For overseas buyers, they will prefer differentiated products made in China, and brands have always been a hot topic of concern.

Times have changed. People now prefer a refined operation model and some differentiated products that are "small but beautiful" and "small but refined". The all-inclusive model of large supermarkets is becoming less and less popular with consumers. This is the same whether online or offline. In fact, if we think about it carefully, we will find that many of the brands or products that have become popular in recent years were relatively niche in the past.

With the rise of online economy, people's dependence on and demand for offline supermarkets are actually far less than they were 10 or 20 years ago. This has undoubtedly further compressed the development space of offline supermarkets, but it also proves that online purchasing power has begun to increase greatly. Now 80% of people abroad will choose to shop on online platforms. Whether it is a large platform or a small platform, it will be favored. It mainly depends on the platform's service and logistics. At present, the only platforms that surpass other platforms in North America in this regard are the two giants Walmart and Amazon. From Amazon's FBA to Walmart's WFS, it has to be said that they have firmly grasped the buyers' consumption concepts. Walmart's 2-day delivery has, to some extent, completely replaced the offline shopping experience, so the withdrawal and closure of offline stores is an inevitable trend.