Wal-Mart to sell Chinese online business to retailer JD.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is selling its Chinese online business to the country's No. 2 e-commerce site in a strategic partnership that it hopes will bolster its presence in the extraordinarily lucrative but increasingly competitive online marketplace.

Though JD.com's strength is in brand-name electronics, it will be able to help capitalize on Yihaodian's strong brand name and business in eastern and southern China and in important categories such as groceries and household goods.

Food is among the growing number of products that Chinese shoppers are increasingly migrating online to shop for, which is a big reason why traffic has declined at the company's namesake stores in China as well as at its rival's big stores.

The retailer took full control of Yihaodian last July after its first investment in the company in 2011 as it seeks to catch up in China, which has a massive potential customer base in the world's largest online marketplace.

[...] Wal-Mart has been trying to accelerate the integration of its online business and physical stores in China.