Shanghai (AFP)

Costco's American wholesale specialist is coming to China with a first supermarket in Shanghai, an ambitious gamble in the midst of a trade war, while foreign distributors tend to leave the country.

The hypermarket opens Tuesday, with the goal of retaining at least 100,000 "members," said AFP Richard Zhang, vice president of the group for Asia. Costco only operates on the basis of prepaid cards.

The chain is popular in the United States with its wholesale formula in huge no-frills repositories where consumers can walk away with phenomenal amounts of maintenance products or food promised to freeze.

The recipe seems to work also in the Chinese economic capital, where customers were queuing before the inauguration of the store to buy their valuable membership card.

"If business is good and there is confidence, other stores will open soon" elsewhere in China, Zhang promises.

The market has however proved difficult in recent years for foreign distributors, faced with the competition of online sales, very dynamic in China.

In June, the French Carrefour agreed to sell 80% of its business to Chinese Suning and the German Metro is preparing to do the same with a local brand. The British Tesco packed in 2014.

But Costco thinks he can escape the rule with his discount recipe.

"What sets us apart is that we offer low quality products that consumers can not find elsewhere," says Zhang.

- Imports from Australia -

Target displayed: Middle class families attracted by international brands.

For Chih-yuan Wang, a Mintel distribution specialist, "the Costco brand is recognized by customers who have lived abroad or prefer imported products."

"It remains to be seen whether the potential clientele (in China) will be sufficient and whether it will remain faithful after the honeymoon," he said.

Costco comes at a time when big names in e-commerce, such as Alibaba, are joining hard-line chains, with the goal of integrating traditional and online commerce.

"Local distributors are reaching out to customers from all possible channels while foreign channels are not as adaptable," warns Jason Yu of Kantar Worldpanel. "The old recipe of the hypermarket where everything is found does not work in China".

Costco's biggest rival, Sam's Club, a subsidiary of Walmart that operates on the same principle of membership and wholesale, has been present in China for more than 20 years, where it plans to have 40 points of sale from here. at the end of the year.

But Richard Zhang hopes that it will turn to Costco's advantage.

"Chinese consumers are willing to pay for a membership card that gives them the privilege of shopping at a depot - the concept is not new in the country," he says. "We do not need to explain this to our customers".

But the Sino-US trade war, and punitive tariffs that the two countries impose mutually, is a source of concern for the US group.

"To maintain our prices, we have replaced some of our imports with fresh products from Australia," says Zhang, "while half of the goods sold at Costco are imported.

© 2019 AFP