(Yicai) Jan. 27 -- Belinda Wong, chairwoman of Starbucks China, has retired after nearly 25 years at the US company. She set ambitious store expansion goals during her tenure, but the world's largest coffee chain is now struggling to fend off local competitors.

Wong officially retired on Jan. 24, Yicai learned from Shanghai-based Starbucks China. She had stepped down as chief executive officer last September, with the role taken over by former co-CEO Molly Liu, who now holds it alone.

Wong joined Starbucks in 2000 and was appointed as China market head in 2011. In 2016, she was promoted to CEO of Starbucks China, and became chairwoman three years later. Both positions were the first to be specifically created for the China market by the Seattle-based company.

In 2022, Wong laid out an ambitious growth plan, which included increasing the number of stores to 9,000 and the number of employees to 95,000 by 2025, as well as doubling net revenue and quadrupling operating income compared with that year.

But in recent years, Chinese rivals such as Luckin Coffee have grown rapidly and brought much competitive pressure to bear through their low-price strategies. In the fiscal year ended Sept. 29, Starbucks China's revenue fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier to USD3 billion, with same-store sales and the average spend both dropping 8 percent, according to its latest financial report.

In response to these challenges, Starbucks has expanded into lower-tier markets in China. In the fiscal fourth quarter of last year, it opened 290 stores in the country and entered 78 new county-level markets. By the end of the quarter, Starbucks had 7,596 coffee shops in China, covering nearly 1,000 county-level markets.

In addition, last December Starbucks China created the role of chief growth officer for the first time, appointing Tony Yang, who had led the user development department at Jiyue Auto, a joint venture electric vehicle brand of Baidu and Geely Holding.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting