HONG KONG, March 1 (Reuters) - Sun Art Retail Group Ltd on Sunday reported a 4.8 percent rise in 2014 profit, as China's biggest hypermarket chain continued to expand into lower-tier cities.

The joint venture between Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex Group and French retailer Groupe Auchan SA said net profit reached 2.91 billion yuan ($464.15 million) in 2014, up from 2.78 billion yuan in the previous year. That was compared to an average forecast of 2.98 billion yuan from 18 analysts polled by Reuters.

Turnover rose to 91.9 billion yuan from 86.2 billion yuan a year earlier. Gross profit margin increased 1.3 percentage points to 22.9 percent.

Sun Art opened 49 new hypermarket complexes during the year, bringing the total to 372. It said it will continue to maintain a stable pace in new store expansion, while also focusing efforts on developing e-commerce business.

Same-store sales decreased 1.6 percent during the year, compared to 2 percent growth for 2013, due to slower growth in the consumer market, more choice of outlets for customers, and lack of new stimulus for spending.

Big retailers are struggling to attract customers to their traditional stores in China, where online shopping is booming.

Sun Art competes with China Resources Enterprise, which has teamed up with British grocer Tesco plc to develop e-commerce initiatives, and foreign rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc which controls Chinese online store Yihaodian. ($1 = 6.2695 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Rosalind Russell)