This paper seeks to compare the processes of supply network transformation in China resulting from the market entry of retail transnational corporations (TNCs) across two food products, fresh milk and edible oil. The analysis demonstrates significant variations in both retailer management practices and strategic responses by suppliers between the two products. These variations, in turn, are seen to derive from the inherent nature of the commodities concerned, the relative balance of supply and demand, and the pre‐existing competitive and structural conditions in the different sectors before retail TNC entry. Overall, the paper calls for a nuanced and dynamic approach to retailer power and its impacts that recognises the complexity and unevenness of supply network restructuring in emerging markets.