Walmarthas bought out the remaining stake of an ecommerce business it already controlled in China, amid the continued push by traditional retailers into online sales.
The US group said on Thursday that it had acquired 49 per cent of Yihaodian, a Chinese ecommerce business, for an undisclosed sum. It has held a 51 per cent stake in the group, which was founded in 2008, since 2012.
The deal puts Walmart, which dominates offline retail in the US but has struggled to translate that into success abroad, in more direct competition with Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce group. Jack Ma, Alibaba chairman, has predicted it will overtake the US retail chain in sales this year.
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