China will drive more than half the world’s retail growth over the next decade, Walmart Asia CEO Scott Price has told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Manila.

Despite slowing economic growth, the world’s largest retailer still believes in the power of the world’s most populous nation, referring to October’s retail sales figures showing 11 per cent year on year growth, and September’s 10.9 per cent.

The Singles Day record set last week of US$14.3 billion further underlined the spending potential of Chinese consumers.

Price highlighted the performance of the company’s wholly-owned Chinese online retail subsidiary Yihaodian on Singles Day which he described as “great’ without revealing data.

He said the company had opted to take full ownership of Yihaodian this year to make the most of the “gamut of opportunities” in the burgeoning online-to-offline (O2O) market where shoppers order online and collect instore.

“We think online-to-offline is critical, as customers look for convenience, and convenience is not just one mode.”