French retail giant, Carrefour will open 2 new membership stores in Shanghai in September, as it takes advantage of the increasing popularity of the paid membership store model with Chinese consumers.
Carrefour’s 3rd membership store in Shanghai has just opened in Nanxiang town while the 4th store will open later this month in Changning district.
The 2 new stores will have greater product range at 4,000 items, and offer delivery services.
The pandemic has led to the rapid rise of e-commerce which hit traditional retailers hard, but membership stores that offer a wider variety of products at affordable prices have been gaining in popularity.
Some other examples of membership stores include Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Walmart which opened its 4th store in Shanghai recently. Carrefour opened its first membership store in Shanghai last October. Carrefour China Chief Executive Tian Rui said the company planned to upgrade 100 of its 200 hypermarkets to paid membership stores within 3 years.
