Problems and prospects of supermarket development in China

There is an argument that the channel of distribution reflects the economic development of a country. China is a developing country. When supermarket technology was introduced to China in 1981, supermarkets were mainly serving visitors from overseas. When the economic environment improved during the 1990s, supermarkets in China shifted focus to the local community. The findings of this study showed that the nature of problems faced by supermarkets changed over time during the past 18 years. In the 1980s, most of the problems were related to technology transfer and the support from supplementary industries. In the 1990s, the problems were mainly related to competition and management issues. If China joins the WTO the Chinese government will speed up the development of the service industry. Supermarkets will then become a new power in the retailing industry in China. Multinational retailing giants will play a significant role in the technology transfer. However, their presence will also create tremendous pressure on local operators, forcing many inefficient ones out of the retailing scene.