Wal-Mart Chooses Hong Kong as Springboard for Asia
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has opened a regional office in Hong Kong to further develop its customer base in the booming Asian market.
The regional operation is headed by Vicente Trius, Executive Vice President, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia.
After reviewing several cities in Asia, the retail giant decided that Hong Kong was the ideal location for its regional office. "Hong Kong is centrally located in the Asia region, and therefore makes a good staging point for continuing to develop our businesses in the hemisphere," said Mr. Trius.
The company informed Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) representatives of its decision during their visit to the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, in February of this year.
HKTDC Executive Director Fred Lam was pleased to be among the first to welcome Mr. Trius to Hong Kong at a luncheon organized by HKTDC in May.
Continuous expansion
Wal-Mart has seen strong growth in its international business, posting a 17.5 percent year-on-year increase in the fiscal year ending in January 2008.
The U.S. retailer has been operating in the Mainland of China since 1996, when it opened its first store in the southern city of Shenzhen.
It currently has 206 retail units, which includes a minority shareholding in the Trust-Mart chain.
Mr. Trius noted that emerging markets such as China and India, where organized retail was a fairly new phenomenon, presented potentially large business opportunities. He noted that the common thread around the world was to save people money – a theme that resonates with customers no matter where Wal-Mart operates.
Mr. Trius said Wal-Mart continued to see other business opportunities across Asia. "Part of the success of our international business is using our global leverage to deploy best practices, share talent, technical expertise and other resources to our markets around the world.
"We draw from experience gathered from all our markets to find new ways to serve customers around the world."
Wal-Mart: http://www.walmart.com/
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