Suning.com Corporation Acquires Carrefour

On June 23, Suning.com Corporation announced that its subsidiary Suning International purchased an 80 percent stake in Carrefour China, the Chinese branch of the European retail giant, with an acquisition value of 4.8 billion yuan. After the deal was completed, Suning.com became the controlling shareholder of Carrefour China.

Suning.com identified the significant potential of Carrefour’s extensive geographic coverage, as the chain boasts altogether 210 supermarkets in 22 provinces, as well as its localized procurement capabilities in consumer products and food retail.

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Tian Rui, vice president of Suning.com, told a reporter, “Suning’s online and offline retail mode, logistics distribution network and powerful technical capacity can be combined with Carrefour’s operational experience and supply chain capabilities to improve the O2O layout of Suning’s consumer goods category, while enhancing market competitiveness and profitability.”

In the meantime, this acquisition is another advancement of Suning’s smart retail strategy. By the end of 2017, Suning launched the “smart retail development strategy”, aiming to deploy 20,000 internet outlets within three years, and achieve over 20 million square meters of commercial entities.

Back in February, Zhang Jindong, CEO of Suning.com announced that the company had officially acquired 37 outlets of Wanda Department under Wanda Group. According to retail in Asia, the move is meant to expand its brick-and-mortar retail portfolio and facilitate the omni-category merchandise supply chain to satisfy more local consumers and boost Chinese retail market profits.

Founded in 1990 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, Suning Holdings Group is one of the leading commercial enterprises in China, with two public companies in China and Japan, covering areas including e-commerce, logistics, financial services, technology, real estate, media & entertainment, sports, and investment. In 2017, the company was ranked second in the top 500 privately-owned enterprises in China, with an annual revenue of $65.7 billion (412.95 billion yuan). Suning.com, the retail company of Suning Holdings Group was listed on the 2017 Fortune Global 500.