French retailer Carrefour SA launched a distribution center in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Tuesday, to facilitate its business expansion in South China.

Thierry Garnier, president and chief executive officer of Carrefour China, said the company will bring new business formats, including the online-to-offline business and convenience stores, and set up more hypermarkets in new cities.

"Launching the distribution center will be of key importance to a long-term strategic development in China," Garnier said.

The Dongguan facility became Carrefour China's fifth distribution center across the country and the sixth will open in mid-June, according to Garnier.

The Dongguan center, with the first phase covering an area of 21,000 square meters, will provide full support to the 30 Carrefour stores in Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian provinces.

"Carrefour China is transformed into a 'multi-format' and 'multi-channel' business, following a new development strategy introduced last year," said Garnier.

The French retail giant has more than 200 hypermarkets across China and has launched O2O business in Shanghai and Beijing.

"We will open more hypermarkets in central and western regions of China, thanks to China's large population and fast urbanization, and launch more convenience stores, or community stores, in big cities in the near future," Garnier said.