November 2005 (Revised September 2007)
Case
HBS Case Collection

Beijing Hualian

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Format:Print
| Pages:27

Abstract

China's fifth largest domestic retailer faced intensifying competition from Wal-Mart and Carrefour with the opening of China's fast-growing retail market in January 2005. In response, Beijing Hualian developed a new "Family Store" format targeted at the nation's growing middle class, made up of younger consumers with more fashionable tastes. Like hypermarkets, Hualian Family Stores include both food and nonfood lines, but differ in design and in the product and brand mix that would be carried. Results from the pilot store (a remodeled hypermarket in Beijing) were encouraging, with revenues and profits up and customers spending more on each visit. The company must decide how quickly to roll out Family Stores in China. Strategic issues include preempting competition by moving quickly into new cities, balancing the buying power of multinational retailers who were also purchasing merchandise for export, leveraging Beijing Hualian's understanding of the rapidly changing domestic market, accessing capital for expansion, and training and retaining Chinese management talent.