China's Retail Market is Expected to Grow by About 51% Between 2007 & 2011, to Reach a Total Value of Over RMB7.17trn.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50246 ) has announced the addition of Retailing in China 2007: A Market Analysis to their offering.

In December 2005, the Chinese government changed its estimates of the size of China's economy, by 17%! So what, we all wondered, did this mean for the size of the domestic economy? Well, this was reassessed too, but based on market definitions that made no sense.

It has taken us a year to make sense of the Chinese retail statistics, and this report represents the culmination and fruits of a year's analysis of the size, shape and value of the Chinese retail market, its inconsistencies, the myths that surround it and the problems that still need to be faced.

This report covers retailing in China from every angle, including the structure of the industry, and the real spending power of China's so-called "middle class". We look at the myth of broad consumer wealth in China, and illustrate why this has caused many foreign consumer goods companies to see much smaller returns on their China investments.

The report also provides an attempt at a realistic forecast of consumer wealth and spending patterns in China, so that foreign manufacturing and retail companies looking at the China market can do so based on figures that make sense.

KEY REPORT FEATURES

This newly updated and enlarged report covers:

- A critical analysis of the retail and consumer statistics from China, with a realistic valuation based on fully explained methodology;

- The total, regional and sector value for retail sales, including urban/rural and food/non-food splits, up to the end of 2006;

- Statistical data on market shares by sales in China up to 2005;

- Retail and other economic data for each provincial section, with a summary of retail prospects in each province, up to 2006;

- Value forecast retail market, up to 2011;

- Key current issues;

- Statistical analysis of the retail industry by sector, including major manufacturers in each sector, in China;

- Analysis of statistics covering the key sectors of the retail industry;

- Key contacts;

- Overview of China's demographics and macroeconomics.

Topics Covered

INTRODUCTION

1 NATIONAL RETAIL MARKET

2 REGIONAL RETAIL MARKETS

3 RETAIL INDUSTRY STRUCTURE

4 SWOT ANALYSIS 

APPENDIX: MARKET BACKGROUND

Summary

Our retail sales statistics are calculated as sum of individual markets within the retail sector, with reference to estimates of the total retail market, based on analysis of Chinese government data, and comparisons with other data sources. We research each of the sectors of the market individually, using industry and company sources, as well as national statistics.

Our figures do not match oft-quoted government retail statistics, which, as well as being worked out in a totally different way, include such non-retail commercial activity as wholesaling, catering and other services.

In 2005, following a survey of the growth in private enterprise in the services sector, the Chinese government revised the value of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by nearly 17%. This move precipitated a complete re-evaluation of China's total retail market value, based on comparisons made with other countries in the Asian region, and a re-evaluation of each of the individual sectors within.

Based upon these recalculations of retail sales, and based upon the growth in individual retail sectors, our estimates that between 1999 and 2006, China's total retail market grew 157.41% in current terms to RMB4.16trn - representing an annual average growth rate of 19.68% over that period.

China's retail market has broadly opened-up to foreign involvement, now permitted by the government, but there are still restrictions on retailing of certain goods, notably books and other media, and most foreign retailers are finding it hard to make any profit. International companies have established numerous local partnerships over the years, many now being bought out by foreign parties eager to take full control of their Chinese operations. Meanwhile, Chinese companies are becoming increasingly competitive in response to the foreign entrants, often undercutting their competitors to the point of loss-making.

China's retail market continues to develop rapidly. New chain store networks and shopping malls are emerging outside the top three cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai as retailers extend their reach to other first-tier cities, and now many second- and third-tier cities. There is aggressive consolidation in the market, as larger operators swallow up smaller players, while there are equally significant numbers of failures, both retail companies and shopping malls.

China's retail market is expected to grow by about 51% between 2007 and 2011, to reach a total value of over RMB7.17trn.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50246