The retail industry was one of the first of China's economic sectors to open to foreign investment.  As early as 1992, the government began to invite international retailers such as Carrefour and Adidas to enter the domestic market -- with restrictions attached. But when China joined the World Trade Organization 10 years ago, the regulations began to ease dramatically.  What have been the biggest changes for foreign retailers in China since then?  And how have the changes impacted daily lives in China?

Josh Perlman is the head of Tristate, a Hong Kong-listed company which is the exclusive retailer in China of the American lifestyle brand Nautica. He said when he worked for Adidas China in the mid 1990s, foreign retailers had to set up joint ventures with local partners to be allowed to operate in the country, and the Chinese partners had to hold majority shares. These restrictions could reduce management efficiency.

"I remember in the long-time ago, in the mid-90s, I worked at Adidas. And in Adidas China, to operate the business, we had something like six or seven joint ventures, which ends up being extremely complicated. If something happened to one particular venture, it may stop you from being able to operate completely."

Not to mention other restrictions directly limiting their growth...such as geography and limits on the number of stores a company could open.

"And a company could only operate in certain numbers of cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Qingdao. Furthermore, there were restrictions on the number of stores," said Ken Chen of L.E.K. Consulting.

"At that time, we had the limit of the number of shops in Shanghai and in Beijing -- 300 in SH and 320 in BJ," said Jose Antonio Parra of Dia China.

China was allowed a three-year period after joining the WTO to permit its domestic retail industry to adjust to the new trading rules. But by the end of 2004, restrictions on foreign retail operations in China were removed. And the very next year, the total investment from foreign retailers increased by nearly 20%.

By last year the total number of international retailers in China had reached over 2,800, and their total sales volume had grown from 5% to 18% of China's retail market.  While benefiting from the rapid expansion of their business,they have also introduced many new concepts and marketing techniques to China's consumption industry.

"First, I think it's more store formats. Before you didn't have one-stop shopping experience like Ikea. Second is broader product categories like you have a lot of luxury brands right now that you didn't have before. And third is higher positioning. For example, Mothercare, which is a baby product store offers strollers for 10,000 RMB and more. You would never believe before that Chinese people would afford or even want to buy strollers at 10,000 RMB, but now this market has been opened. Besides these three things, there are better practices that they have brought for example, better logistics, marketing and promotion as well," said Chen.

The competition in China's retail business is growing every day. The market has gotten so big so fast that foreign retailers have even developed a new taste for expansion through acquisition of local companies.

"Acquisitions are very attractive to foreign retailers because this is a way in which they can expand rapidly. If they expand and acquire a retailer with, say 200 stores and most of the stores are located in tier 2 tier 3 cities where they have absolutely no presence. Thats a way for them to immediately have access to new channels," said Howard Abe of AT Kearney.

And experts say acquisition is especially attractive for foreign brands entering China for the first time or for those who have had trouble competing with local rivals. American retailer Best Buy, for example, has purchased Five Star Appliances, while several years ago British Tesco bought the local brand 'Legou' to use its name domestically.  These purchases themselves were facilitated through China's WTO membership, and the approach allows the foreign companies to use the better-known local logos to build connections with consumers while developing their own retail brands in China.