Shoppers dropping Western companies

In the battle to grow market share in China, Western retailers are on the losing end, prompting them to develop multi-format strategies to retain customers.

Last year was a transformational one for all players in the modern retail trade, which is defined as hypermarkets, supermarkets, mini-markets and convenience stores combined.

They have been going through a tremendous slowdown in consumer demand, a sharp rise in operating costs as well as direct challenges from e-commerce players, according to research findings released by Kantar Worldpanel, which focuses on fast-moving consumer goods.