Britain's largest retailer Tesco will open its first store in Beijing in 2007 to establish a foothold in the fast-growing market, according to a local media report.

The Beijing News reported Tesco is seeking to catch up with and beat other foreign retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour in the Chinese market, where the 2008 Olympics is expected to bring new opportunities to the retailing industry.

Tesco Plc, the world's third largest hypermarket operator, entered China in July 2004 by buying a 50 percent stake in the chain retailer Hymall, a Chinese mainland subsidiary of the Taiwan-based Ting Hsin International Group.

Last October, Hymall selected an area of 20,000 square meters in east Beijing for its first store in the capital city, according to Wang Junshan, Hymall's public relations manager.

Hymall now has a total of 39 outlets in several Chinese cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Tianjin, Shenyang and Dalian.

"Now we are talking with a number of property dealers. The development strategy of Hymall is to branch out thick and fast, whereby we can not only strengthen our market presence shortly after entering a new city, but also save costs by setting up a single stock-replenishing chain," said Wang.

The Beijing News also reported that Tesco is getting itself involved in the management of Hymall in an all-round way and trying to introduce its own brand into the Chinese market.

Tesco now has 2,318 stores in 12 countries, with 179 of them in Asia.

China will fully liberalize its retail market by 2007 according to its commitments to the World Trade Organization.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2006)