China retail steps into data-driven future with Carrefour sale

Once powerful foreign players sidelined as customer information becomes weapon

Customers enter a Carrefour supermarket in Shanghai. Carrefour, France's main supermarket group, will sell its China operations to Suning for roughly $700 million. © AP

NAOKI MATSUDA, Nikkei staff writer

June 25, 2019 05:09 JST

SHANGHAI -- By acquiring Carrefour's China business, Suning.com is gaining access to crucial customer data that would help shape a strategy to challenge e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings and expand its retail presence.

"2019 will be an important year for us at Suning," Suning Holdings Group Chairman Zhang Jindong said to employees in mid-February, after the Chinese New Year holiday. "We will expand our business portfolio to all areas of retail."