Spar International to make further inroads into China
Spar International has announced a new partnership with Jinfang as it looks to grow the Spar brand in south east China across Yunnan Province, Liu Pan Shui City, Bijie City, Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and Anshun City in Guizhou Province.
Jinfang will invest in converting 32 stores to the Spar brand in the coming months and the 2,550 employees working in Jinfang’s hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores will benefit from access to Spar China’s retail training academy.
Spar is working closely with Jinfang on the first Spar supermarket design and an international logistics team from Spar International and Spar China are supporting Jinfang in the development of a modern warehouse.
In 2016, Spar’s sales in China grew by 6.7% to 14.5 billion RMB as the company continued its expansion in to the maturing food retail sector in the country. Store numbers increased by 14% to 395 and Spar China added 43,918 square metres of selling area.
In December, Jiajiayue Group, Spar’s first Chinese retail partner, launched an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The funds raised from the IPO will be invested in technology and the supply chain infrastructure.
Spar’s growth in China has been driven by investment in a multichannel supply chain, the development of hypermarkets, the launch of convenience stores in urban centres and a strategic emphasis on fresh food through initiatives like the development of a new, state of the art bakery production facility.
Tobias Wasmuht, managing director of Spar International said: “Since entering into China in 2004, Spar has worked closely with partners to accelerate the growth of their food retail business through our standardisation methods, latest store design, modern supply chain expertise and improved shopping experience.
“The strong growth figures demonstrate that the ‘Better Together’ strategy is delivering for our Partners. The partnership with Jinfang represents a further, exciting development in the growth of Spar in China.”
