Midnight shopping run
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-24 08:47

Carrefour's Gubei outlet has followed the lead of a Lotus hypermarket and is now staying open until midnight.

The Gubei store, which beats all its rivals in sales, expanded night services by two hours starting on December 10.

"We opted for a later closing time to make it more convenient for customers to do their Christmas and New Year shopping," said Lisa Zhang, a Carrefour official.

The store will continue its night owl schedule if customer demand holds steady, she added.

Though shoppers were sparse during the extra hours at the Gubei outlet recently, the Lotus store on Yanggao Road S. said its late-night business is proving satisfactory.

The outlet pioneered round-the-clock hypermart service three months ago.

"The night business is doing fine," said Ma Junna, the Lotus store director. "We have an average 50,000 customers a day from 10pm to 8am."

Sales amount to several thousand yuan during the night compared with more than 1 million yuan (US$120,000) in the day, store officials said.

Young couples, expatriate residents and migrant workers who don't have time to shop earlier in the day are among the main customers at night.

Meanwhile, nearby convenience stores are losing money, and small shop owners are complaining.

"With the market fully opened to overseas investors, competition in the retail sector will intensify," said Zhou Yong, chief economist with Shanghai Nonggongshang Supermarket Co Ltd. "Some foreign retail giants have the strength to pursue customers for the long term regardless of current expenses."

Smaller outfits that are short on capital, however, need to earn short-term profits to stay in business, he added.