Walmart to open 10 Chinese distribution centers over next two decades

· Friday, July 05, 2019

A larger DC footprint in China (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said it plans to invest $1.2 billion to build or renovate more than 10 distribution centers in China during the next 10 to 20 years.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company operates more than 20 distribution centers in China, which support 420 locations in 180 cities. The company opened its first distribution center in China in 1996 in Shenzhen. That same year, Walmart opened its first store in China, also in the same city.

The announcement, made July 1 in China and July 3 in the United States, comes on the heels of the March opening of its first perishable food distribution center in China, located in the southern tier of the country. That distribution center currently serves more than 100 Walmart stores, the company said.

In June 2016, Walmart and JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce firm, announced an alliance to combine e-commerce and brick-and-mortar resources in China.

Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.