China Speakers Bureau: Why China does not need Home Depot

What foreign companies, trying to tap into the China market, regularly forget is that there is no need for their services, tells retail analyst Paul French at Marketplace Public Radio. Home Depot is an example.
Paul French responds to Raymond Chou, president of Home Depot China:

CHOU: The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer in the world by far, and we plan to be number one in China, too. Therefore, really the task at hand is to try to figure out how do we become the largest home improvement retailer in China, whether or not we're going to be here or not.

Paul French by Fantake via Flickr
PAUL FRENCH: I don't know if Home Depot needs to be here. I don't know if this is the right place for Home Depot... You can go around the ring roads of Beijing or you can go around the expressways of Shanghai and you see these giant warehouse places, where manufacturers just set up inside and you go in there and there's 50 makes of toilet, 50 makes of power shower, and 50 makes of bathroom tile. Everything's up for negotiation, you can sort everything out, it'll all get delivered. You don't need Home Depot.