PWC: China to Become World's Largest Retail Market in 2018

On 12th Feb, PWC released a report "2015-2016 Asian retail and consumer goods industry outlook". It says, in the next two years, the annual growth rate of China's retail sales on average is still expected to reach 8.7%. In addition, China will become the world's largest retail market in 2008.

The report shows, although China's retail growth rate has slowed compared with that peak in 2009, for the global retail chain enterprises, China is still an irresistible market.

The report also shows that the retail sales in the Asia-Pacific region in 2014 is expected to grow by 4.1 percent, while this year's growth rate will reach 4.6%. Until 2018, retail sales continue to show an upward trend, while in 2018 the market size is estimated to reach $10.3 trillion. As a whole, the Asia-Pacific region remains the most preferred destination for global retail chain enterprises. Although China's economic growth has slowed down, the reform in India lack in momentum, the growth of the Asia-Pacific region will benefit from the two countries.

Wang Xiao, the supervisor of China's retail and consumer goods industries of PWC said, from 2015, the economy growth of US and the difficult recovery of EU will stimulate demand for Asian goods. In the next five years, Asia’s retail sales growth will be the world's fastest one. "

The report also focused on food safety issues. With the rapid development of emerging markets in Asia, people are increasingly concerned about food safety. based on concerns about food safety, the Asian food industry is subject to more stringent regulation. Asian food manufacturers have sought the expertise of overseas markets, wishing to establish partnership with trusted brands.

In the food and beverage sector, Chinese enterprises’ overseas M & A shows an upward trend. From 2010 to 2013, Chinese enterprises’ foreign investment in the food and beverage industry totaled $9,000,000,000. In the first half of 2014, M&A volumes in the food and beverage industry accounted for 17% of the total trading volume of China's outbound M&A.

For the future, the global retail industry is constantly changing, and the most rapidly changing market is the Asian market, particularly Chinese market. In Asia, the integration and innovation of e-commerce and mobile e-commerce channels make the important retail companies rethink their channel strategy. (www.chinainout.com)