The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has made a rare admission of failure by selling its hypermarket chain in Germany at a loss of $1bn (£530m) after failing to convert the country's shoppers and regulators to its low-price, American-style trading.
Wal-Mart said today it was offloading its 85 German outlets to a local rival, Metro, in a move that calls time on its nine-year struggle to make an impact in the country.
Michael Duke, vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, said: "It has become increasingly clear that in Germany's business environment it would be difficult for us to obtain the scale and results we desire.
"This sale positions us to increase our focus on the markets where we can achieve our objectives."
Wal-Mart's German arm employs 11,000 people and generated sales of 2bn (£1.36bn) last year. It represents just 4% of Wal-Mart's overall international operation and is far smaller than the company's 307-strong Asda chain in Britain.
But the setback, which comes two months after a similar withdrawal from South Korea, is a blow to Wal-Mart's broader ambition to spread its phenomenally successful retailing format around the globe.
Shortly after its arrival in Germany, Wal-Mart faced accusations that it was using short-term predatory pricing to put small shopkeepers out of business. Regulators ordered it to raise the price of basic foods such as milk, flour and butter.
It faced broader challenges in Germany's particularly competitive, low-margin high street environment, where more established operators ran similarly large discount warehouses for products such as clothes and household goods.
Jon Jacobs, an analyst at Cantor Viewpoint in New York, said: "Germany's been a thorn in their side for many years. Shoppers there are very price conscious and the competition essentially 'out-Wal-Marted' Wal-Mart."
Critics in Germany suggested that there were also cultural issues, with local shoppers reluctant to embrace Wal-Mart's emphasis on customer service with hearty greetings from staff and packers at every check-out.
Wal-Mart has been reluctant to diverge too much from the pile-high, sell-cheap retailing style developed by its late founder, Sam Walton, at its base in Bentonville, Arkansas. In America, staff begin the day with a loyal company song, although wages and working conditions have come under sustained attack from unions.
The buyer of Wal-Mart's German stores, Metro, is already the country's biggest retailer and is likely to re-badge the chain under its Real Hypermarkets brand. It said it would take an unspecified one-off accounting gain as Wal-Mart is selling the stores for less than their book value.