China's expenditure on fast moving consumer goods in 2016 grew 2.9 percent, marking the slowest growth in the last decade and also a further slowdown from a 3.5 percent growth a year ago, consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel said in a report yesterday.

Traditional retail channels, including hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores, grew a combined 0.7 percent as they felt the squeeze from an slowing economy and a rapidly growing e-commerce sector.

Local retailers such as Sun Art Group, which operates the Auchan and RT-Mart brands, boasted a 7.8 percent market share. Vanguard Group was next with 6.4 percent.

Wal-Mart saw its market share edge up to 4.9 percent from 4.8 percent a year ago as it focused more on China’s hinterland and adopted a more aggressive online-to-offline strategy.

Yonghui remained the fastest growing player in 2016, rising 0.6 percentage points to 2.8 percent.