Tesco opens 30,000 sq m Chinese 'lifespace' Shopping Mall

Having opened Cash-and-carry stores in India, Express stores in Japan and the 'Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market' in USA in recent years, Tesco has ramped up it's presense in China with this 'lifespace' Shopping Mall.

The retailer on Saturday announced the opening of the first in Qingdao which it described as feeling a lot more "local" than the standard foreign hypermarket.

Sales of live turtles and fresh stingray are commonplace.

With the retailer expected to announce record trading figures tomorrow, Tesco however continues to face fierce competition and increased pressure in the UK with Sainsbury reaching like for like sales growth of 4.2 per cent and plans for 15 per cent more space.

However, despite this Tesco continues to post profits over five times that of Sainsbury whilst spending £500 million - the equivalent of Sainsbury's total expenditure on expansion in UK alone - in China.

In May last year Tesco posted up full year profits of 3.1 billion 2008/09 whilst Sainsbury's delivered £543 million.

In addition, Tesco continues to diversify it's business with Tesco Mobile and a Tesco Bank planned.

50,000 customers attended the launch of Qingdao shopping mall and Tesco is planning to increase efforts on China's 1.3 billion shoppers over the next few years says Philip Clarke, Tesco's International Director.

By investing over £500m - one quarter of it's international capital expenditure, Tesco hopes to attract evermore customers to an increasingly competitive market.