(Yicai) Dec. 17 -- The Chinese branch of US retail giant Walmart has teamed up with Meituan, China's largest on-demand services platform, to accelerate its sales channel transformation in the country.

All Walmart stores in China are already available on Meituan's app for instant delivery services, the Arkansas-based firm announced today. In the future, the pair will work together to enrich Walmart's product categories and enhance its operations, online customer services, and marketing.

Walmart is committed to building offline and online sales channels in China, covering different scenarios to better meet customer needs, said Zhu Jun, chief procurement officer of Walmart China. The partnership with Meituan will complement Walmart's sales channels and provide customers with a more convenient shopping experience, Zhu added.

Accelerating its sales channel transformation is one of Walmart's key strategic initiatives, the firm noted, adding that e-commerce sales already account for nearly half of Walmart's total in China, with the business continuing to develop rapidly.

Walmart's sales in China rose 17 percent to USD4.9 billion in the third quarter of the year from a year earlier, thanks to the surge in Sam's Club memberships and a 25 percent growth in its e-commerce business, according to the company's latest financial statement.

Meituan's instant delivery volume jumped 15 percent to 7.1 billion orders in the three months ended Sept. 30 from the same period last year, the firm said in its latest earnings report. Adjusted net profit soared 124 percent to CNY12.8 billion (USD1.8 billion), and revenue rose 22 percent to CNY93.6 billion.

Editor: Futura Costaglione