Wal-Mart maps out Europe expansion plan

Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, has unveiled its expansion plan in central and eastern Europe.

The move, said Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's chief executive, is to send shivers down the backs of European retailers such as Metro, Tesco and Auchen, according to Financial Times Monday.

Poland, Hungary, both new members of the European Union, and Russia, were listed by the Wal-Mart chief as his future targets.

Acquisition would be more preferable than establishing new stores in the central and eastern parts of Europe, Scott said.

Apart from its European expansion, Wal-Mart also sets its eyes on expanding its market shares in countries like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in Latin America.

India, one of the rising economies in Asia, is also included in Wal-Mart's expansion plan.

Scott said that Wal-Mart wants to continue its 30 percent sales growth outside the United States.

About 112 million US shoppers pass through a Wal-mart every week, spending more than 47 billion US dollars in the last quarter. However, US shoppers who buy their groceries at Wal-Mart are turning elsewhere for other goods that offer higher profit margins.

Many are going instead to Target, Wal-Mart's main rival that offers basic goods at lower prices.

Financial Times quoted the Wal-Mart's executive as admitting that they are "irked by Target's success."

The retailer giant is turning to George, the brand it acquired with its purchase of the UK's retailer Asda in 1999, to revitalize its flagging sales at its more than 3,000 stores in the US.

Source: Xinhua