AAP vs VNET Comparison

Advance Auto Parts is a leading auto-parts retailer in North America with more than 4,000 store and branch locations. About half of the firm's sales are geared toward the professional channel, with the remaining sales in the do-it-yourself market. Through its vast store footprint and distribution network, Advance manages thousands of stock-keeping units for various vehicle makes and models. The retailer primarily competes on the basis of inventory availability and service speed, making the operating efficiency of its hub-and-spoke distribution model critical to meeting customer needs.

VNET started as AsiaCloud in 1999 and moved into the data center business, opening its first self-developed data center in 2010. The firm listed (as 21Vianet) on the Nasdaq in April 2011, subsequently changing its name to VNET Group in 2021. It originally focused on providing data center services such as colocation and cloud services to retail clients in China, but added hyperscale customers in 2019 and now counts large Chinese hyperscalers such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Huawei Cloud as customers. At the end of September 2025, it had 52,288 retail cabinets, with the majority in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Greater Bay area. It also had 783 MW of wholesale capacity in service, with a further 306 MW under construction and a further 705 MW held for future development.