Sam's Club welcomes a new president for its new business format, aiming to deepen its focus on value.

Today, the Chinese retail industry has witnessed a significant personnel change.

Walmart China announced that Liu Peng has joined Walmart China and assumed the position of President of Sam's Club format, reporting directly to Zhu Xiaojing, President and CEO of Walmart China, effective immediately. Meanwhile, Jane Ewing, the former acting President of Sam's Club format, will return to Walmart International after completing her overseas assignment and acting duties as scheduled by the end of 2025. During the transition period, Liu Peng will conduct a comprehensive handover with her.

As a benchmark for the domestic membership - based retail format, every move of Sam's Club has always caught the industry's attention. Its long - standing and stable high - growth fundamentals have made this personnel adjustment even more prominent. Currently, the number of Sam's Club memberships is continuously increasing, and both the membership renewal rate and activity level are maintaining a steady upward trend. The expansion of cities and stores is ongoing, with nearly 60 stores opened in more than 30 cities, and approximately 5 new stores are expected to open by the end of this year. Additionally, in terms of omnichannel construction, the proportion of Sam's e - commerce business has exceeded 50%.

The combination of these remarkable data and the key personnel adjustment is sending a strong signal to the industry: the watershed of the domestic membership - based retail industry has actually arrived. Membership stores are no longer just competing in terms of "who can introduce more brands, who has more customers in stores, and who offers more convenient shopping forms". They also need to consider refined operations, such as "precisely targeting the service population and enabling customers to clearly perceive the value of membership through differentiated products and services".

Based on this, two core questions have emerged: Who exactly is Liu Peng, who has been entrusted with an important mission? And what new trends in the industry does Sam's choice foreshadow?

Who is Liu Peng?

For those who have long followed the retail industry, Liu Peng is no stranger.

This veteran with nearly 30 years of industry experience has a resume spanning traditional retail and internet giants - from the management of home appliance retail channels at Haier Group and Suning Appliance, to the operation of international retail supply chains at Media Markt China, the operation of the maternal and infant product category at Goodbaby China, and then to the practice of cross - border e - commerce and omnichannel retail at Alibaba.

His past diverse experiences have formed three prominent labels on him: global perspective, insight into Chinese consumption, and digital capabilities.

Firstly, the global perspective. Liu Peng's ability to integrate global resources has been gradually established through numerous real - world battles.

After joining Alibaba in 2015, starting from Tmall Global, he initiated a large - scale exploration of "global brands entering China", introducing nearly 25,000 overseas brands from 92 countries and regions in total, with over 80% of them entering the Chinese market for the first time. During his tenure in charge of Alibaba's large - scale import business, he led the optimization of the cross - border logistics chain, significantly lowering the threshold for the cross - border consumption experience.

This exactly matches Sam's Club, which takes "globally selected products" as its core competitiveness. On the one hand, he can help Sam's Club expand the channels for exclusive products based on his accumulated overseas brand resources and the foundation of cooperative trust. On the other hand, his mature experience in operating cross - border supply chains can promote the localization adaptation of Sam's global supply chain. By optimizing the allocation logic between bonded warehouses and stores, the supply chain of overseas products from the "bonded area" to the "members' dining tables" can be shortened.

If the global supply chain capability is the foundation for Sam's Club to "select good products", then Liu Peng's insight into Chinese consumers can enable "good products" to better match the needs of members precisely. His long - term deep involvement in the Chinese retail market has given him a sharp and accurate perception of the needs of consumers at different levels.

For example, in 2022, through user consumption data, he identified two core trends: a surge in the demand for "healthy food" among middle - class families and the rise of "scenario - based consumption". Based on these insights, Liu Peng promoted a significant year - on - year increase in the sales of relevant product categories.

Liu Peng's third label - digital capabilities - began to emerge gradually since 2015.

Whether it was the incubation of Tmall Global, the upgrade of the delivery time of Tmall Supermarket, or the global recruitment of luxury brands on Tmall, Liu Peng was involved. In addition, in the application of digital tools, he also led the construction of the "user label system" for Taobao and Tmall, achieving personalized product recommendations through AI algorithms.

Currently, the retail industry has entered a new stage of "deepening omnichannel collaboration" from "omnichannel coverage". Consumers are no longer satisfied with "being able to shop online and visit stores offline". Instead, they expect integrated services that offer "fast order fulfillment for online orders and a warm in - store experience".

Liu Peng's omnichannel and digital capabilities, especially the practical experience he has accumulated in "connecting online and offline data and optimizing the fulfillment chain", will play a significant role for Sam's Club, where the proportion of e - commerce business has exceeded 50%.

The "New" Sam's Club

The appointment of a versatile player means more than just an organizational upgrade.

In this official announcement, Zhu Xiaojing, President and CEO of Walmart China, said, "We believe that with his international perspective, in - depth ability to integrate the global supply chain, and rich experience in Chinese retail and omnichannel operations, Liu Peng can lead the Sam's Club China team to achieve strategic upgrades, further strengthen the core organizational capabilities centered around members, and at the same time promote digital transformation and technological innovation to ensure the stable and long - term development of the business and bring better products and experiences to members."

This reveals an important message: To continue leading in the current fierce competition in the membership - based retail industry, leveraging the versatile capabilities of senior executives to drive the refined upgrade of the brand has become one of the necessary and important means.
 

Currently, the Chinese membership - based retail track has long passed the blue - ocean exploration stage. Leading players and local brands are engaged in multi - dimensional competition. The focus of competition is no longer limited to market expansion but has shifted to deeper - level value cultivation.

On the one hand, foreign brands have successively entered the Chinese market. While increasing their presence in new first - tier cities, they are using private - label brands and differentiated product selections to enhance product recognition, attempting to break through from niche scenarios. On the other hand, domestic brands are precisely positioning themselves, targeting local needs, strengthening "direct fresh produce procurement + community services", and building competitiveness in regional markets.

What makes Sam's Club special is that as one of the first foreign membership - based retail brands to enter the Chinese market, it has established a strong user trust endorsement. Its ability to select SKUs and create popular products often brings "unexpected surprises" to users. The convenience of its omnichannel, especially the one - hour delivery service of online express delivery, is rarely rivaled in the industry.

This is an upgrade on top of its existing advantages.

In the foreseeable future, as the President of Sam's Club format, Liu Peng will continue to strengthen Sam's Club's "irreplaceable competitiveness". For example, in terms of products, he will strengthen cooperation with international brands and regional specialty brands to create a "unique" difference. In terms of services, he will expand the service boundaries around members' life scenarios and upgrade the "refined experience" based on member insights.

Sam's Club will still be Sam's Club, but it will also evolve into the "new Sam's Club".

In addition to always adhering to the principle of "members first", Sam's Club will also promote an "upgrade of organizational capabilities".

This does not refer to a major personnel change. In fact, Walmart China is a rather "stable" enterprise and has not made large - scale personnel adjustments due to the rapid expansion of Sam's Club business. In Walmart China's values, a stable organizational structure plays a huge "stabilizing" role in the inheritance of values, enhancing employees' sense of belonging, and promoting teamwork.

Simply put, the upgrade of organizational capabilities means promoting the construction of a digital organization by introducing managers with cutting - edge industry capabilities, making the organization more suitable for long - term competitive needs and laying a solid foundation for future development.

Currently, data assets have become the most valuable intangible asset in the membership - based retail industry, which directly affects the depth of the relationship that a brand can establish with its members.

Sam's Club started with a relatively high level of digitalization. As early as the initial stage of the rise of AI, it built an AI - data - driven system covering different fields such as the supply chain, customer insights, and e - commerce. With the support of this system, by analyzing members' search and purchase data, Sam's Club can quickly identify emerging needs and adjust its product selection strategy in a timely manner. At the same time, with the help of AI data analysis, it can achieve precise marketing for members.

Liu Peng's rich past experience in digital operations will become an "accelerator" for the upgrade of Sam's Club's digital capabilities, playing an important role in improving the membership data system, deepening the application of AI in the supply chain, and connecting the digital links between the online APP and offline stores. It will enable digitalization to truly serve the member experience and business growth, injecting stronger digital momentum into Sam's Club's long - term strategy.

Which Way is the Wind Blowing?

It is not difficult to see from this key personnel appointment of Walmart China that the industry is also changing.

Let's start with the basic situation - the market scale. Undoubtedly, Walmart's emphasis on the Chinese market is fully reflected in its key position appointments and business layout.

This is also supported by data: in the first half of 2025, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased to 24.55 trillion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 5%. The sales of the top 100 online retail enterprises reached 2.17 trillion yuan, and the market scale of instant retail exceeded 1.4 trillion yuan, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 25% in the next five years.

The huge market space will attract continuous investment from foreign brands.

Secondly, in terms of talent demand, versatile talents will become the core barrier for high - end formats. In the current industry environment, single - skill talents can hardly meet the development needs. Versatile talents with multiple capabilities are becoming the key variable determining the ceiling of an enterprise.

Walmart China appointed Liu Peng precisely because of his global supply chain experience accumulated at Tmall Global, his insight into Chinese consumption trends, and his omnichannel digital operation capabilities. In addition, other foreign brands are also continuously recruiting senior executives with both overseas supply chain experience and local operation capabilities to enhance their strength.

Finally, in terms of the market stage, the Chinese membership - based retail industry has officially entered the stage of parallel development of scale and refinement.

On the one hand, with the continuous increase in the penetration rate of online retail in China, consumers' demand for "fast order fulfillment and good experience" will force brands to improve omnichannel efficiency. On the other hand, the middle - income group's emphasis on quality over price will drive brands to shift from competing in scale to competing in value. Optimizing member experience, creating product differentiation, and improving omnichannel efficiency will be the key points for Chinese membership - based retailers to compete.

In this never - ending race, only enterprises that truly understand consumers and continuously create value can reach the end. This path is difficult but full of hope.

Brand Special Feature