Wal-Mart to focus on food safety as China sales slow
In the wake of scandals on the mainland, newly appointed Asia-Pacific chief at the world's biggest retailer will boost investment in quality
Wal-Mart Stores is focusing on food safety as the world's largest retailer aims to boost profitability of its more than 400 stores in China, said Wal-Mart Asia chief executive Scott Price.
Food safety is a highly emotive issue on the mainland where there have been numerous scandals from photos of food oil being scooped from drains to tales of fake eggs and melamine-tainted milk powder.
"We play a very important role in China delivering food safety and quality products to our customers," Price said on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) CEO Summit. "It's a differentiator."
Wal-Mart came under fire in Chinese media earlier in the year after a supplier's donkey meat product was found to contain fox meat. In 2011, Chinese authorities accused Wal-Mart of selling expired duck meat, and it was forced to shut down stores in Chongqing after they were accused of labelling non-organic pork as organic and selling it at a higher price.
Price was named on Tuesday the head of the retailer's Asia-Pacific business, in a move aimed at reviving Wal-Mart's slowing growth amid stiff competition in the region. In Japan, the company said in October it would close 30 underperforming stores to scale back. In India, Wal-Mart last year ended a six-year partnership with Bharti Enterprises and started to run wholesale stores instead of retail ones.
In China, Price said Wal-Mart has experienced "a few bumps around the road". China was the only market of Wal-Mart's five largest ones that saw falling same-store sales in the second quarter, down 1.6 per cent from the year-earlier period.