Burgeoning membership: Sam's Club wins with quality and value

Shenzhen resident Yu Qian never expected a random visit to the Futian store of Sam's Club to completely change her purchasing habits.

"Out of curiosity, I walked into Sam's Club for the first time in 2011 because I was eager to know why the brand was so confident as to charge a membership fee even before customers purchase anything," she said.

Yu, who once frequently shopped at general stores, embraced Sam's Club right after her first visit. She said the product quality and competitive pricing at Sam's Club were the major factors attracting her. She has visited the club three or four times every month to purchase daily necessities ever since.

Promotion week debuted

Sam's Club is as ever competitive in the face of the explosive online shopping in China, which industrial insiders attribute to the club's flexible strategy for satisfying its members' needs and improving their shopping experience.

One example is the club's first Premium Members' Ultimate Savings Week citywide in Shenzhen, which started on Thursday and is set to last through Oct 31.

The promotion gives premium members in Shenzhen more benefits and offers an additional option for consumers right before the upcoming online shopping gala on Nov 11.

The week-long promotion offers heavy discounts on 14 big items which could allow customers to save more than 10,000 yuan ($1,416) in total, according to the club.

Long-term price reduction has also been applied to nearly 100 items from Oct 24. For instance, Levi's jeans for kids are priced at 99 yuan each and Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil at 999 yuan for a dozen.

The price reduction is expected to provide members with great value, so that they no longer need to rush to buy something that may not fit their real need, which is a common mistake made during China's annual Nov 11 online shopping gala.

"We have learned a lot from the Chinese market over the past two decades. Sam's Club will continue to bring more privileged benefits and high-quality products to our members by providing great value, outstanding service and shopping experiences," said Andrew Miles, president of Sam's Club, China. He added that Sam's Club will never compromise on quality.

"We will follow insights into our customers' lifestyle to forecast their demand so as to maintain our leading role in the membership retailing sector in China," noted the president.

Sam's Club maintains strict standards in its procurement process. For instance, it sells over 80 percent of the total sold in China of 100-day cereal-fed chilled beef imported from Australia; and it sells only those imported cherries with fruit diameter above 28 millimeters and strawberries that have passed 94 pesticide residue testing processes, according to the company.

He said Sam's Club has established a global supply chain and has a large merchandising scale, which ensures it can offer members good prices in the long run.

According to Miles, about 1,000 products sold in Sam's Club have had a yearly price reduction of 10 percent on average over the past two years.

"I am a little concerned about product quality on e-commerce platforms," said a premium member surnamed Zhou in Shenzhen. "That's why I prefer brick-and-mortar stores."

Zhou said that he has never bought fresh foods like fruit online because there is no unified quality control standard.

"Personally, I prefer Sam's Club because it never fails to provide a pleasant shopping experience; and I use their one-hour online delivery service too."

"Premium Members' Ultimate Savings Week is value added for members like us. I just can't wait to join the spree," Zhou said.