Shanghai Bailian (Group) Co Ltd said yesterday it is planning a rapid expansion in the country and expects sales outside Shanghai to exceed those in the city in two years.

　　"Bailian aims to become a national and worldwide leader in the retail industry in 2010," said Wang Zongnan, president of Bailian.

　　"We are in talks to merge or acquire quite a few out-of-town retailers, and hopefully sales outside Shanghai will overtake those in town in 2005."

　　Sales from stores outside Shanghai hit 15.6 billion yuan (US.88 billion) in the first nine months of this year, accounting for 22.7 percent of Bailian's total, a rise of 17.4 percent from last year's.

　　By the end of September, 1,950 out of Bailian's 4,737 outlets were located outside Shanghai.

　　In the first three quarters, sales of Bailian reached 69 billion yuan, up 20.4 percent year-on-year. Thesgroupsexpects whole-year sales to top 90 billion yuan in 2003, and 100 billion yuan in 2004.

　　Shanghai Bailian was formed through a merger of state-owned Shanghai Yibai (Group) Co Ltd, Shanghai FriendshipsgroupsInc, Hualian (Group) Co Ltd and Shanghai Materials (Group) Corp in April insgroupsthat it could compete against huge overseas rivals waiting to enter the Chinese market. Thesgroupsalso hoped the merge would avoid competition among local retailers.

　　Insgroupsto facilitate Bailian's national expansion, the company is investing heavily to improve its procurement, logistics and information systems, which Wang said are the key factors.Bailian has just formed a national procurement platform by integrating its national procurement resources to help cut procurement costs. Another raw material purchasing platform is also being prepared.

　　Meanwhile, Bailian's logistics centers in the eastern, southern and northern regions are under construction."We will set up a national logistics chain in a few years by establishing convenient links among all the logistics centers. It's essential for Bailian's fast and sound development across the nation," Wang said.

　　The company also invested more than 200 million yuan in upgrading its information management system, Wang added.

　　To make inroadssintosthe global market, Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co Ltd, China's biggest supermarket chain and a member of Bailian, has set up a trading firm in Belgium to export food and necessities to the European market.