E-retailers hurting Carrefour

Recently, Liaoning Chengda Co Ltd, a State-owned trade company in Northeast China's Liaoning province, announced it would sell its stake in six Carrefour stores, as five of them have reportedly been making a loss.

Carrefour is not the only foreign retailer suffering a shrinking presence in the Chinese mainland market. Such foreign retailers as Marks & Spencer and Parkson Retail Group have also continuously reduced the number of mainland stores they have. In this context, there has emerged the suggestion that the era of department stores is coming to an end on the mainland.

Undeniably, some of the troubles some foreign enterprises have met in China stem from problems such as lower administrative efficiency and corruption in certain areas. However, their lackluster performances in the mainland market are fundamentally due to their inability to compete with e-retailing. Every technological revolution is always accompanied by huge changes in the economic and social landscapes, as well as bringing sea changes in various sectors.