China Draws World Retailers' Attention at NRF Panels

"China" was the word most frequently mentioned by CEOs from the world's major retailers at the 100th National Retail Federation (NRF) annual expo panels here Monday.

"Although the domestic market was not so satisfying, consumer spending outside the U.S. was good, like China, Brazil and India," said Mark Greene, the moderator of a panel on "Retail's Road to Recovery: Status Report on the Global Economy."

As a big potential consumer market, China drew attention from almost all the representatives. From top retail decision-makers to renowned economists, to senior industry advisers, they all took China as an important figure on the world retail stage.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analystics, said China's consumer spending had grown rapidly in recent years, in both public and private sectors.

The economy grew fast even during the financial crisis, "China's economic prospects are very, very good," said Zandi, also co-founder of Moody's Economy.com.

He was echoed by Ira Kalish, director of global economics at Deloitte Research.

Kalish told Xinhua that China was turning toward consumer spending from exports, and the rising wages of workers and consuming supports from the government would enable the rise of consumer spending share in the GDP.

"I think China's consumer market will grow rapidly in the coming decades," Kalish said.

He believed that, on the one hand, growth would come from non-food retailing, such as home-related retailing, and on the other growth would be seen in secondary markets as "we have already seen a rapid growth in moderate cities."

Many retailers have benefited from the rapid growth of the Chinese consumer markets. Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and CEO of Retail Brand Alliance, said his company had good profit reports from China.

Matthew Rubel, CEO and president of Collective Brands Inc., expressed an intention to open stores in the largest emerging market.

Rubel, however, cautioned, while the position of China as the world workshop had been changing, retailers "need to understand the impacts on the cost, on inflation and on the customers."

Ian Cheshire, Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc UK, also expressed concerns about inflation in China.

Zandi said the Chinese central bank had raised the bank reserve rate and interest rates to address inflation and the government had allowed its currency to appreciate gradually, which would help tackle the price surge.

China would remain the most dynamic market, he said.

Established in 1911, the NRF is the world's largest retail trade association. Its 100th anniversary show opened at Javits Conference Center on Sunday.

More than 600 companies will display their products and retail technologies in the four-day event, and more than 18,500 from around the world are expected to attend the NRF's Centennial Celebration.