supermarket chain Walmart opened its first Chinese outlet in Shenzhen in 1996—five years before China joined the World Trade Organization—the retail landscape in the country looked vastly different. With no large-scale hypermarts, shoppers rose at dawn to snag the freshest produce at local wet markets. Yet, in the last 30 years, China’s rising middle class and deep manufacturing capabilities has given rise to one of the world’s most dynamic, yet competitive, consumer markets. And therelentless domestic competitionhas proven to be a double-edged sword for retail companies: those which can’t adapt quickly are stamped out, while the most successful firms become hyper-efficient, agile and globally competitive. “Customers everywhere want similar things—they want assortment, value, convenience and emotional experiences,” Christina Zhu, the president and CEO of Walmart China, said at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sep 8.