Wal-Mart and Carrefour plan Chinese pharmacies
Retail giants to expand into medicines market
Wal-Mart and Carrefour plan to expand into the lucrative pharmacy market in their Chinese stores.
The [i]Beijing News[/i] reports that both retailers have started working with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to gain licences to sell medicines to Chinese consumers.
Wal-Mart spokesman Xu Jun told the newspaper that the world’s biggest retailer has been in close contact with the ministry, but has yet
to apply for a licence. Wal-Mart China has sold over-the-counter products such as vitamins in ts Chinese stores since the end of last year.
Carrefour, which has the most stores of any foreign retailer in China, is also planning to get approval from the ministry before applying for licences from the state authorities for its stores.
The move is likely to cause renewed concern among Chinese retailers, who have already protested about the impact of global retailers on the market.
However, it could also help to better regulate a market in which medicines are also sold through many informal sales channels and traditional pharmacies.
