Sales for modern trade channels (including hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores) in China in the 12 weeks ending June 15 were flat. The supermarket channel performed the best among this cluster by growing 2.7 percent in these 12 weeks. Hypermarkets continued to lose shoppers, with their penetration declining by 1.3 percentage points in the quarter, according to research firm Kantar.

Among the top five retailers, Sun Art and Vanguard Group maintained their leading positions. Walmart and Yonghui both had significant market share boosts in Q2. After undertaking a series of transformation efforts, Walmart improved its market share within modern trade by 0.6 percentage point over the last year.

It edged closer to Vanguard despite closing 10 non-performing hypermarkets since the beginning of this year. The latest Kantar Worldpanel data confirmed that Walmart Group has improved penetration across all regions in the first half of 2018.

Let's take a look at the top 10 retailers with largest market shares in Q2 2018 in China.

No 10 SPAR Group

Market share: 1.6 percent

A view of a Spar supermarket logo. [Photo/IC]