1 China as the world’s marketplace To describe growth at Suning Commerce Group as astronomical is understating the facts. The company opened its doors in 1990 as an air conditioner specialty store taking up 200 square meters in a Nanjing, Jiangsu, China storefront. In the 24 years since, Suning has grown into the world’s 28th-largest retailer. Today its revenues total CN¥230 billion (US$37 billion). Its 180,000 employees operate 1,700 stores in more than 600 cities across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan. E-commerce platform Suning.com is China’s largest retailer and ranks among the top three business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprises in that country. The growth is unlikely to slow soon. “China is on pace to become the largest consumer market in the world,” says Zhang Jindong, ch

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