The largest world retailer, U.S.- based Wal Mart, folded up its operations in Russia after 10 years in the country's market, Moscow's RBC Daily reported on Monday.
The Wal Mart closed its Moscow office and retired all its 40 local employees, though as recently as in 2009 the retail giant was actively recruiting new personnel.
The company made the decision to quit after it has lost a tender to acquire a local Kopeika supermarket chain last week.
"Our market policy was to conquer the market through purchases of the local companies instead of building the chain from scratch. Since we don't see clear enough the objects for acquisition in the near future, we found it commercially senseless to continue our Moscow office's operations," Wal Mart's international division CEO Doug McMillon said.
This fall, the American company has conducted due diligence of three major competitors in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
According to the report, Wal Mart's quit was due to the uncertainty about general prospective of doing business in Russia.
Maxim Klyagin, analyst from Moscow's Finam investment company Monday told Xinhua that Wal Mart recognized by this decision that its intentions to acquire Russian assets has failed.
"The company has been present in Russia for 10 years but set up its Moscow office only in 2009 as a first step for some large- scale acquisitions here," Klyagin said.
However, the failure to fulfill the acquisition plans is hardly a tragedy for the Wal Mart, because the company's management knows the rules of the game and, certainly, has had the exit strategy, he said.
Currently, Wal Mart operates about 8,700 outlets in 15 countries serving 200 million shoppers weekly. In 2010, its earnings reached 405 billion U.S. dollars.
In addition, Klyagin said to enter Russian market through acquisition is the only feasible way for foreign retailers, but the strategy has nothing to do with Wal Mart's quit.
"Wal Mart exploited this strategy, and its departure does not mean the strategy was wrong. It only means that its competitors demonstrated they are better prepared for competition in the particular retail sector," he said.
Wal Mart may return to Russia once again in future, he predicted.
