Leslie Shaffer | Writer for CNBC.com
Wal-Mart's rival in the U.S., Costco, is among the
competitors wading into China via e-commerce, but the world's largest
retailer doesn't expect the additional online competition will hamper
its growth on the mainland.
"It'll be awhile before 50-year-old moms allow somebody else to pick her fresh [groceries]," Scott Price, Wal-Mart's CEO for Asia, told CNBC, noting the company is continuing with its plan to open 110 new stores on the mainland by 2016.
Read More Alibaba's market value nudges Walmart
Costco Wholesale announced last month that it would enter China via online giant Alibaba's Tmall site, in an attempt to avoid the stumbles suffered by other international retailers,
including Wal-Mart, in what has proved a difficult market for multi-nationals to crack.
"It'll be awhile before 50-year-old moms allow somebody else to pick her fresh [groceries]," Scott Price, Wal-Mart's CEO for Asia, told CNBC, noting the company is continuing with its plan to open 110 new stores on the mainland by 2016.
Read More Alibaba's market value nudges Walmart
Costco Wholesale announced last month that it would enter China via online giant Alibaba's Tmall site, in an attempt to avoid the stumbles suffered by other international retailers,
including Wal-Mart, in what has proved a difficult market for multi-nationals to crack.
Out of Wal-Mart's five largest markets, China was the only
one where same-store sales, a key retail metric, fell in the second
quarter compared with a year earlier.
Read More WMT cuts sales outlook for fiscal 2015
"Stores will still be a very important part of retail moving forward," Price said. The company currently has more than 400 stores and distribution centers in the country.
But Wal-Mart isn't ignoring the online shopping boom in China, which has become the world's largest e-commerce market.
"Our competitive advantage [is] at driving the intersection with physical and digital," Price said, noting the company has a majority stake in online retailer Yihaodian.
Wal-Mart's strategy is to offer options on whether consumers pick up items at stores or receive deliveries, he said, noting the company saw a near 30 percent growth in its China e-commerce business in the first half of the year.
Read More Wal-Mart to open up to 110 new China stores by 2016
China's e-commerce market is something retailers have been rushing to tap, with e-tailing there growing at a 120 percent compound annual rate since 2003, according to a 2013 report from McKinsey.
Read More WMT cuts sales outlook for fiscal 2015
"Stores will still be a very important part of retail moving forward," Price said. The company currently has more than 400 stores and distribution centers in the country.
But Wal-Mart isn't ignoring the online shopping boom in China, which has become the world's largest e-commerce market.
"Our competitive advantage [is] at driving the intersection with physical and digital," Price said, noting the company has a majority stake in online retailer Yihaodian.
Wal-Mart's strategy is to offer options on whether consumers pick up items at stores or receive deliveries, he said, noting the company saw a near 30 percent growth in its China e-commerce business in the first half of the year.
Read More Wal-Mart to open up to 110 new China stores by 2016
China's e-commerce market is something retailers have been rushing to tap, with e-tailing there growing at a 120 percent compound annual rate since 2003, according to a 2013 report from McKinsey.
"[E-tailing] actually seems to spur incremental consumption in China, especially in lower tier cities where there is pent-up demand for choice in merchandise that physical retail stores have not yet managed to deliver," McKinsey said.
Read More Wal-Mart cozies up to China as it shelves India
Wal-Mart is looking to tap that demand, with its 110 planned new stores aimed at lower-tier cities.
"If you were to look at traffic in our stores, in our growth of new stores especially in tier three and tier four cities, I think there's still quite a bit of underserved," Price said.
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