The world's second largest retailer by revenue, France's Carrefour SA, has opened its first hypermarket in Inner Mongolia in a bid to increase its penetration of lower tier cities.

The US' Wal-Mart said earlier this month that it will accelerate its expansion in Fujian province, by opening a hypermarket in Fuzhou city and another Sam's Club warehouse store in Xiamen city later this year.

China is one of the two retail giants' fastest growing markets.

By March of last year, Wal-Mart said it had 370 stores in the country, and currently Carrefour has 220 stores in more than 60 Chinese cities.

Last year, German Metro Group opened 12 stores, mostly located in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, such as Zhongshan and Shunde in Guangdong province.