China was an ideal business destination for global retailing giants in the 1990s. However, changing conditions now make the journey here less easy.

 

In the past two years, chain store operators have reported the lowest year-on-year growth rates in 10 years.

 

International brick-and-mortar retailing giants are facing unprecedented difficulties in China, including increasing rental costs, fast-growing Chinese counterparts and competition from e-commerce, industrial experts said.

 

In 2012, the average sales growth of top 100 large retail companies in China was 8 percent year-on-year, down 10.5 percentage points from 2011, according to the China National Commercial Information Center. In addition, the center reported that the international brick-and-mortar retailing giants closed about 26 stores in China in 2012.

 

In contrast, the year-on-year growth of total retail sales in China was 14.3 percent last year from 18.12 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion) in 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

 

Weak economic conditions and rising market competition caused many foreign retailers to suffer in 2012 and forced them to reconsider their development policies in China.

 

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