According to Chinese online shopping platform Taobao.com, the company is currently deploying offline retail kiosks and payment points across China to complement the over 4,000 locations it has already opened in Beijing in such supermarkets and convenience stores as Vanguard, Lianhua and Hi-24.

According to the interim results from Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co, Ltd., the company made net profits of CNY227 million in the first half of 2008, a year-on-year increase of 61.81%.

The British retail giant Tesco has set up a purchase center for Asian areas in Shanghai.

Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co, Ltd., one of China's largest retail operators, said that the company will open 15 new large-scale supermarkets every year — including two in Shanghai in 2008.

Starting May 2008, the Hangzhou Price Bureau will collect price information of major commodity products from 19 influential retailers in the city, make comparisons and publish the results weekly. This is reportedly an innovation in China.

First Financial Daily has reported that Mao Jiankang, former general manager of Lianhua's south China area, will be transferred to Shanghai headquarters, and Wang Keqiang, current general manager of the southwest area, will become the general manager of the two areas.