BIZCHINA / Trade |
Wal-Mart(www.wal-martchina.com)Updated: 2007-07-06 20:15 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was founded by American retail legend Sam Walton in Arkansas in 1962. Forty four years later, Wal-Mart serves more than 176 million customers per week. It is the world’s largest private employer and retailer with over 1.9 million associates worldwide and more than 6,800 stores in 14 countries. Wal-Mart came to China in 1996. The first Supercenter and SAM'S CLUB were opened in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Today, there are 83 units in 46 cities, with a total investment of over RMB1.7 billion. Across China Wal-Mart employs over 38,000 associates. As an outstanding corporate citizen, Wal-Mart actively gives back to the community and has donated funds and in-kind support worth more than RMB26 million to local charities and welfare organizations over the past ten years. In China, as elsewhere, we follow the Wal-Mart tradition of building our business one store and one customer at a time. We strive to provide our customers with friendly service and a wide selection of quality products at Every Day Low Prices. With each Wal-Mart store we bring advanced retail know-how to the local market. By fostering a healthy, competitive environment, we hope to constantly improve our business operations and customer service in order to contribute to the prosperity of the local economy. Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. At Wal-Mart, we always work with our suppliers to grow together. In the August 2006 Supplier Satisfaction Survey published by Business Information of Shanghai, Wal-Mart ranked first across several supplier satisfaction indexes. Additionally, Wal-Mart directly exports about US$9 billion from China every year. The export volume by third party suppliers is also estimated to be over US$9 billion. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates) |
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