Wal-Mart to launch branded credit cards in China

In a not-so-surprising move by our friends from Bentonville, the Financial Times story quoted here by MarketWatch tells the world that Wal-Mart will be soon launching its own credit cards in China. This would be the first time a credit card of this kind has been launched by a foreign retailer in China. What's the purpose? The obvious one is to make it easier for Chinese citizens to shop at Wal-Mart, where, of course, they can buy the goods that they made the week before.

With Wal-Mart seeing failures in other countries regarding its international operations, perhaps it sees great potential in the Chinese market beyond opening stores. By having branded credit cards, is this a branding technique only for Wal-Mart? Will the retailer choose to give discounts to Wal-Mart shoppers in China who use this new credit card? Is this a way for Wal-Mart to take advantage of international growth in just one huge country -- one where they have a strong relationship with manufacturers?

As fellow BloggingStocks writer Sheldon Liber has pointed out, we are giving the country away to China anyway -- something I strongly agree with. In fact, it's hard not to buy something at any retailer these days not made in China, as we are conditioned to these artificial ultra-low prices. What more can we do here?