Supersized shopping in China

JINAN, China — Shoppers scoop wriggling carp from water tanks. Strollers ponder food stalls that offer Peking duck and roast chicken next to heaping piles of mantou, or Chinese steamed bread. Peddlers hawk yogurt and milk, yelling prices in cacophony.

“A big discount,” one seller calls, waving a jug of milk. “This one comes with a free bowl,” cries another.

Welcome to Jinan, China. Welcome to Wal-Mart in Jinan, China.

An employee offers hot tea at the entrance. The first floor is stuffed with Chinese food, piles of strong-smelling durian fruit, loose-grain rice and dried bamboo. From a wall of aquariums, shoppers prefer to scoop their fish and shrimp live rather than buy frozen. A dizzying selection of hot cooked foods speaks to the custom of buying fresh fare daily, instead of canned or boxed goods.

“In China, people tend to buy food more frequently and in smaller amounts,” says David Hamaty, a retail consultant for Kurt Salmon Associates. “It’s not an auto society like the U.S., where people stock up food in bulk with their station wagons.”

Wang Fei is a frequent shopper who lives nearby with her daughter.

“I come here nearly every day,” she said, carefully selecting noodles and vegetables. “There’s always something I need.”

Chinese shoppers accustomed to the bustle of the street market feel at home here. Employees hawk products across the store, calling customers to take a look. Cooked food is served up from a row of seemingly competing stalls.

Need some pants or chopsticks? Head upstairs on a moving ramp lined with candy, deodorant and other quick grabs. The magnetized ramp secure the carts, leaving shoppers’ hands free. In a city cramped for space, Wal-Mart sprawls upward.

Like most other big retailers in China these days, Wal-Mart is filled with young shoppers. Many are young professionals willing to pay a premium for convenience and cleanliness.

Zhang Jie, a local insurance saleswoman, says she sometimes stops by Wal-Mart because it is close to her office.

“I get some household items here, but I don’t come all that often,” she said. “Other places are less expensive.”

Zhang’s attitude reflects an identity challenge for Wal-Mart China. Wal-Mart defines itself by its “everyday low prices,” but for many items, Wal-Mart’s “China price” has nothing on a street peddler’s price. The store’s produce section, with its organic labels, looks more like a Whole Foods Store than a discount dig.

The store gets plenty of customers, mostly shoppers seeking the convenience of their fish and footwear under the same roof rather than only the lowest price.

Wal-Mart’s other widespread image in America — the overarching corporation crushing suppliers and workers alike — is notably absent here. Wal-Mart only has about 150 outlets in China, compared with more than 4,000 in the United States. Here, it jostles with other foreign chains like Tesco and Carrefour.

And with recent food scares making consumers wary of everything from pork to milk, shoppers are only happy to have a new store on the block where the produce looks fresh, food handlers wear gloves and face masks and all household needs can be met at one stop.

Despite the recession, Jinan’s Wal-Mart is crowded. The Chinese market has weathered the economic downturn well, says Hamaty, the retail consultant. Chinese manufacturers have suffered from a decrease in overseas sales, but domestic buying has partly offset the dip in exports.

“China’s a growing market, and its retail market is still projected to grow,” Hamaty says. “There are a lot of retail channels that are still very underdeveloped, mom-and-pop shops.”

Companies like Wal-Mart look to tap this enormous potential. The chain has steadily increased its presence in China, opening 15 stores in 2006; 30 in 2007; 19 in 2008; and more than 30 in 2009, so far.

This June, Wal-Mart rolled out three pilot convenience stores in Shenzhen. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Vivi Mou was mum on any upcoming store openings, but she said the company will “continue this growth momentum.”

This report comes from a journalist in our Student Correspondent Corps, a GlobalPost project training the next generation of foreign correspondents while they study abroad.