Yonghui Superstores (永辉) didn’t need to call out Sam’s Club — the problem is internal

The public letter and the controversy

Yonghui Superstores (永辉) stirred the market on March 16 when its private‑label arm, “品质永辉”, posted an open letter urging Sam’s Club (山姆会员店) to “not force suppliers to choose between partners.” The move quickly trended online and provoked sharp debate: was this a call for fair competition or a publicity stunt? It has been reported that Yonghui framed the appeal as part of a broader “one don’t, six do” industry initiative aimed at protecting multi‑party supplier relationships.

Evidence and industry context

Reporters from the National Business Daily have since interviewed three Sam’s suppliers and found they deny being subject to exclusivity clauses; industry sources also note that customized SKUs do not equal formal "exclusive" contracts. Retailers across China — from membership clubs like Sam’s to community chains and legacy supermarkets — are increasingly pushing private labels and working with the same contract manufacturers to produce custom SKUs. So is this really about coercion, or about two retailers competing for scarce supply lines and headline attention?

Why Yonghui’s public call looks misguided

Strategically, Yonghui arguably had little to gain from publicly confronting Walmart (沃尔玛)’s Sam’s Club, a business that is scaling fast in China: it has been reported that Sam’s opened 10 stores in 2025, reaching about 63 outlets nationwide, with reported China sales of roughly RMB 140 billion (1400亿元) and over 10.7 million paid members. Yonghui, by contrast, is still completing a sweeping “胖改” transformation inspired by Pang Donglai (胖东来) after new investor Ye Guofu (叶国富) took a leading role — and remains loss‑making, forecasting a 2025 net loss of about RMB 2.14 billion (21.4亿元). Public grandstanding against a much larger, rapidly expanding rival distracts from the urgent operational fixes Yonghui needs.

The bigger picture: reposition or keep fighting?

This episode tells two stories. One: a savvy marketing moment that generated attention. Two: a company under real pressure that would be better served by focusing on supply‑chain upgrades, differentiated private‑label hits, store conversions and a clearer brand story — the very areas where investors and customers will judge a retailer’s long‑term survival. Foreign retailers’ expansion in China happens against a backdrop of shifting consumer habits and geopolitical trade scrutiny; but for Yonghui, the more immediate geopolitics are local competition and execution. Question is simple: does Yonghui want headlines, or does it want to stop losing money?