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SHANGHAI, April 3-- Despite the economic fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic, several foreign retail giants are beefing up their presence in the Chinese market to cash in on the rising purchasing power of Chinese consumers. Among foreign investment deals worth a total of 16 billion U.S. dollars inked in Shanghai earlier this week are investments from U.S. retail giant Walmart and Japanese convenient store giant Lawson. Walmart's Sam's Club will open a brand-new flagship outlet in Shanghai in 2021 while Lawson is investing a further 29.1 million U.S. dollars to further penetrate the Chinese market. "We are excited to add the flagship outlet into our rapidly expanding footprint, a testimony of our commitment to our members and China," said Andrew Miles, president of Sam's Club China, adding that the company is expected to have 40 to 45 stores in operation or under construction in China by 2022. The latest deals came after U.S. retail giant Costco announced in late February the start of the construction of its second store on the Chinese mainland with a total investment of 2.6 billion yuan (about 367 million U.S. dollars). After tasting earlier success in the world's second-largest economy, foreign retail giants are now setting their eyes on the new opportunities in the Chinese market even impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic in the short term. "Despite cutting expenses for dining out and amusement, Chinese customers have spent more on other areas such as healthy and fresh materials for home cooking," said Nancy Sun, vice president of Strategic Initiatives of Sam's Club China, noting that recent sales of coffee and ice cream have also doubled from a year ago. | 
