Wanda launches retail expansion

Amid the huge growth in online shopping in the country, the commercial property arm of Dalian Wanda Group says it is betting big on new retail, and aims to have 300 plazas by 2019.

Wanda Commercial Management Group disclosed in an annual convention, which ended on Friday, that it will expand its current 285 Wanda Plazas to 300 as of August next year.

By then, Wanda-backed malls will be in 200 Chinese cities and cover 80 percent of the country's urban population.

Qi Jie, president of WCMG, noted that brick-and-mortar commerce in China is experiencing an unprecedented revolution, driven by the country's shift to upgrading of the consumption sector.

"The new trend has promoted companies including Wanda to try new forms of business, leverage new technologies, build new scenarios and innovate ways of management," he said.

WCMG was rebranded earlier this year, after a consortium led by Tencent Holdings Ltd invested 34 billion yuan ($5.37 billion) into the company. After the rename, the company will gradually stop engaging in property development, and will instead solely focus on commercial management.

Such a revamp aims to integrate Dalian Wanda's vast offline commercial assets－including real estate, sports and entertainment－with the huge online resources of its internet investors.

For instance, Wanda Plazas have utilized Mini Programs, Tencent's WeChat in-app functionalities, as a way to integrate offline and online shopping experiences.

"Such mini programs have digitalized Wanda's membership system, helped it to better serve different stores in the plaza, and more importantly, guided its customers to better make use of coupons," said Lin Jinghua, deputy president of Tencent.

He said the new approach has brought an extra 10 million members and boosted the number of offline consumers by 30 to 50 percent.

Qin Shuo, a business expert and a co-president at China Business Commercial Civilization Researcher Center, notes that China's new retail sector still has huge room for growth, as the country is expected to become the world's largest market of consumption goods.

"Some 550 million people born after the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are gearing up to become the driving force of new retail," he said.

Qin added that rural residents, which account for 41.5 percent of the nation's total population, could be another growth market for retailers.