June 28 - US retail giant Wal-Mart has said it signed an agreement with the Shanghai government to set up a China e-commerce headquarters in the city to boost its presence in the fast-growing market.

Wal-Mart hopes to cash in on the rise in online consumer spending in China (photo: AFP)

Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Monday, the company will strengthen collaboration with the city government on training of personnel and offer Chinese consumers "a wider selection" of products online.

"The scale of online sales in China is expanding rapidly and is projected to match US online sales in the next few years," Wan Ling Martello, Wal-Mart's executive vice president of Global eCommerce, said in a statement.

"We are very optimistic about China's e-commerce market and its growth potential," she said.

Wal-Mart announced last month it had agreed to buy a minority stake in Chinese online grocery store Yihaodian, or "number one store" in Chinese. It did not provide financial details of the deal.

Consumer online spending in China nearly doubled to 513.1 billion yuan ($79.3 billion) in 2010 from a year earlier, accounting for around three percent of total retail sales in the country, according to the China e-Business Research Centre.

That figure could exceed one trillion yuan in the next two years, the institute said in a report released early this year.

Highlighting the growing appeal of China's Internet market, foreign companies such as Adidas, Gap and Wal-Mart have opened online stores in the country, which has the world's largest web population at 477 million.

Wal-Mart's first quarter net profit rose three percent to $3.4 billion as strong international sales offset weakness in its home market in the United States.

Mexico, China, and Chile had the highest percentage sales increases for the quarter ending April 30 compared to last year, the company has said.