Mr. Cheng Siwei, Vice Chairman of NPC, Met with
President of Best Buy Co., Inc of U.S. and His Delegation
This morning, Mr. Cheng Siwei, Vice Chairman of the National People’s
Congress, met with Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson, Vice Chairman and Executive
President of Best Buy Co., Inc of the United States and his delegation
in the Great Hall of the People. Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson indicated that
Best Buy Co., Inc would increase direct purchasing volume from China and
gradually explore the Chinese market.
Best Buy Co., Inc is the largest retailer, distributor and supplier of household appliances and electronic products in the world. Its total turnover reached USD20.9 billion in the fiscal year of 2003. Under Best Buy Co., Inc, there are Best Buy Retail in the U.S., Future Group in Canada, Magnolia Hi-Fi (a world-class famous electronic products franchised store), and Best Buy musical and entertainment products. It has more than 680 large-sized retail stores in North-America.
During the meeting, Mr. Cheng Siwei indicated that China expected to cooperate with multinational corporations to realize win-win. However, he also pointed out that multinational corporations needed both satisfaction of customers and support of the society. He hoped that Best Buy Co., Inc could build its good image when marching into the Chinese market.
Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson said that Best Buy Co., Inc would pursue the same values as China, and borrow experiences from North-America so as to provide Chinese customers with appropriate services. Moreover, he expressed that China was a potential consuming market with 1.3 billion population. Continuously\growing middle class with about 60 million to 200 million people would be the targets for Best Buy to expand its business in the future.
He said that Best Buy Co., Inc purchased household appliances like color TVs from China and then sold them to America and Canada, etc, hereby supporting the Chinese manufacturing industry to employ more workers and elevate China’s development level.
Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson also gave a high praise to Chinese suppliers. He said: “Technological innovation continuously carried out by Chinese suppliers brings greater benefits to Best Buy Co., Inc”. In September of last year, Best Buy Co., Inc established a global purchasing center in Shanghai which was the first one out of North-America, and the headquarter of its Asia-Pacific region was also in Shanghai. Best Buy Co., Inc worked on seeking for more excellent local suppliers, and it successively established cooperation relationships with domestic famous enterprises such as Changhong, Hisense, and Haier, etc..
It is known that Best Buy Co., Inc already made a plan to try its best to directly purchase household appliances and computer products valued at USD 1.2 billion from Greater China Region this year. Besides, it expressed that it would give more outsourcing IT businesses to Asian countries like China. According to introduction, the outsourcing IT businesses entrusted by Best Buy to India only reached USD 150 million. Last year, total volume of appliance purchasing by Best Buy Headquarters was as high as USD18 billion. Along with its further exploration in the Chinese market, the mass Chinese manufacturers will get more business opportunities. Regarding the conditions for suppliers, Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson said that technological innovation of products would be the key point.
As a retail magnate of household appliance and electronic product industry, Best Buy Co., Inc hasn’t formally opened any stores to operate in China at present, but some local household appliance retailers such as Gome, Suning, and Dazhong, etc. have already been aware of the challenges. For this, Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson thought that the establishment of its office in China at present was mainly aimed at getting to know demands from Chinese customers and exploring new ways to meet their demands. It’s still early for them to have competition with domestic household appliance retailers.
china.com.cn Feb. 20th, 2004
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