Hema Fresh Reportedly Joins Carrefour in Reporting Sam’s Club, Saying Suppliers Have Long Faced Pressure
Retail giants Carrefour and Hema Fresh have denounced Sam’s Club for allegedly “being a monopoly.” According to Beijing News on Monday, Hema Fresh intended to report Sam’s Club to relevant authorities in conjunction with Carrefour, saying that the suppliers of ‘Hema X member’ stores in Shanghai and other cities have been pressured by Sam’s Club to “cut off supply” to Hema Fresh.
Insiders of Hema Fresh said that since the opening of the first store last October, Hema X member stores have struggled to ensure supplies for a long time. Also, in cities outside Shanghai, some suppliers even stopped cooperating with Hema X member stores under pressure by Sam’s Club.
It is reported that the main manifestation of Hema X member store’s supply cutoff is that when its first store opened in Shanghai last October, a small number of suppliers directly showed the status “sold out.” Insiders of Hema Fresh revealed that at present, the restrictions were mainly on the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) products and household appliances. For example, suppliers would limit only certain types and specifications available or directly choose not to cooperate.
Yicai reported that, on October 22, the first day of the opening of Carrefour’s first member store in China, it encountered the embarrassment of the collective “evacuation” of some suppliers. These suppliers bought back a large number of their own goods in order to cut off the supply of Carrefour’s member stores. Yicai quoted Carrefour as saying that the opponents put pressure on its suppliers to “choose one from the other.” At present, the target of Carrefour and Hema Fresh’s suspicion is Sam’s Club.
SEE ALSO: Tencent Puts Huge Investment in YH Super Species, Strategic Challenge to Alibaba’s Hema
Beijing News asked Sam’s Club about the above claims, and there was no response as of noon press time on October 25.
At present, Hema Fresh said that Hema X member stores and Carrefour member stores would maintain close communication at the procurement level, and work together to solve the current “two-choice” situation.
