NANJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Leading Chinese retail company Suning Holdings Group has set a target to open more than 10,000 stores in 2020 while diversifying its commodities from household appliances to fresh food and mother and infant necessities.
Suning currently has more than 13,000 stores in 300 urban communities across China.
Suning said the new stores, either its direct chain stores or franchised outlets, are required to feature Internet-connectivity to help facilitate deliveries of Suning's online orders and goods storage, and provide customer service.
The new stores are expected to create 8,000 jobs in 2020. The group company has planned to invest 40 billion yuan (about 5.7 billion U.S. dollars) in new technologies and logistics infrastructure in 2020 to improve its smart retail ecosystem.
"China's market is desired by world companies. Whoever can effectively meet consumers' demands at all levels can succeed in the future," said Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning.
In 2019, Suning acquired 37 stores of Wanda Department Store nationwide and an 80-percent equity stake in Carrefour China. The company's e-commerce platform Suning.com reported its net income attributed to shareholders surged 94.28 percent year on year to about 11.9 billion yuan in the first three quarters. Enditem
