A customer walks past a Sam's Club warehouse store at Beicai Town in Pudong New Area, east China's Shanghai. Photo:Xinhua

Sam's Club, the high-end membership outlet of US-based retailer Walmart drew attention recently in China with consumers questioning a children toy kit on sale marked with the logo of Dior, causing confusion with the luxury brand.

Sam's Club said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday that the store has removed the product immediately and apologized for causing a poor experience for customers. 

At a Sam's Club at Yizhuang in Beijing, consumers discovered a children toy kit produced by Zhejiang Jiandong Culture & Creative Co (Jandoon) carrying the Dior logo being sold for 399 yuan ($55.44), containing DIY tools for making necklace, bracelet and earrings, Beijing Business Today reported on Thursday. 

According to the report, the partner of toymaker Jandoon was not the Christian Dior but another brand named Dior Art Toy which used a similar typeface as Christian Dior trademark. The official website of Dior Art Toy showed that the brand belonged to Gaodele (France) Commercial Limited which holds use rights for the "Dior" trademark on blankets, sports equipment, fishing equipment and children toys.

After the products were put on sale for a short period, Sam's Club received members' feedback that the products may confuse consumers with the well-known Christian Dior, even if the toy kit was legally authorized by the trademark owner, said the Sam's Club in the statement.

"We had removed the products immediately in order to avoid any further misunderstanding, and we will take the incident as an example to prevent recurrence of similar incidents," said Sam's Club.

Global Times