The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2019–2026
Wumart's €1.9B Metro China bet keeps closing stores and missing IPOs
Bought from Metro AG in 2019, Metro China swung between B2B and membership retail — stores shuttered, a third HK IPO lapsed, and Sam's kept winning.
Metro China (麦德龙中国) · Wumart (物美) · 2026-05
What happened
Metro AG sold 80% of Metro China to Wumart for €1.9 billion in October 2019, and the new owner made its move: pivot the German B2B wholesaler toward consumer-facing paid membership stores, chasing the Sam's Club boom. The first years looked plausible. Then the swing between two models started to show — revenue fell from ¥27.82 billion in 2021 to ¥24.858 billion in 2023, and 2022 brought what reports called a huge loss.
The B-end bled first: wholesale customers left for the price transparency of platforms like 1688. The C-end didn't compensate — of roughly 20 million registered members, only about 3 million paid. In 2024 four membership stores closed for 'renovation' without clear reopening signals: the Beijing Dacheng Road store, opened December 2022, shut in August 2024; Chengdu and Wuhan doors suspended; Shanghai Hutai Road closed outright. The deputy CEO poached from Sam's left in July 2024.
The bill arrived in 2025-2026. Metro Supply Chain's HK prospectus, filed December 30, 2024, lapsed on June 30, 2025 without a hearing — the third failed listing attempt — and it showed 61–62% of revenue coming from owner Wumart itself. In late April 2026 Wumart installed Wen An'de, the former Walmart executive who ran Sam's China expansion, as executive chairman. Just over ten days later the model Yanjiao membership store in Hebei, opened 2021, closed — the membership format mismatched a commuter town, with Sam's and instant retail nearby.
Why it happened
- The swing between B2B wholesale and C-end membership satisfied neither: wholesale clients left for 1688's transparency while the member stores couldn't out-select Sam's and Costco.
- Conversion exposed the weak value proposition: only about 3 million of roughly 20 million registered members ever paid.
- The IPO prospectus revealed the dependency — 61–62% of revenue from owner Wumart itself; the 'independent' business was mostly internal billing.
The lesson
A format can't serve two masters. Metro China swung between B2B wholesale and Sam's-style membership, satisfied neither, lost wholesalers to 1688 — then hired Sam's old expansion chief to copy Sam's.
Aftermath
Wen An'de's mandate is to replicate the Sam's playbook he once ran — critics note that copying Sam's doesn't answer a positioning Sam's itself defines. Metro AG's group quarter ending March 2026 booked a €180M operating loss. A fourth IPO attempt is expected, but the prospectus problem — structural dependence on Wumart — remains unsolved.
Sources
- 36kr — Metro's third HK listing stumble, 2025-07-04
- Dashu Cross-border — ¥1.4B loss, closures and a chairman change: German giant's China retreat?, 2026-06-17
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