US retailer Wal-Mart to add 115 China stores

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, said it plans to add 115 stores in China, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, after earlier missteps in the massive market.

It currently has more than 400 stores and the opening would represent an increase of over 25 percent, Bloomberg quoted a statement as saying. The new outlets will include both "supercentres" and members-only Sam's Club stores.

The US retailer will also spend 370 million yuan ($61 million) to renovate around 50 existing stores in China, the report said.  

"China is a key strategic market for Wal-Mart," it quoted Wal-Mart chief executive officer Doug McMillon as saying at a briefing in Beijing. "Over the next three years, we will increase investment across our diverse business operations in China."

Wal-Mart owns a stake in a popular Chinese online grocer Yihaodian, but its own stores have faced strong competition.

Last year, Wal-Mart tightened inspections on its suppliers in China, after it was forced to recall a "Five Spice Donkey Meat" product sold domestically which was found to contain fox instead.

In an earlier case dating to 2011, Chinese authorities forced the temporary shut down of 13 Wal-Mart stores in the southwestern city of Chongqing over rule violations which included pork falsely labelled as organic.