Grocery shopping in for digital makeover after Alibaba invests US$2.9b in Walmart-style chain
E-commerce powerhouse aims to ramp up international expansion with strategic partners Auchan Retail of France and Taiwan’s Ruentex Group
It is a familiar scene each morning in China – lines of shoppers, many of them retirees, queuing up outside their neighbourhood supermarket. Once the doors open, they dash for the fully stocked bins to select the choicest cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables and fruits.
But changes are in store for these early-bird shoppers.
On Monday, Alibaba Group Holding unveiled its strategic alliance with French company Auchan Retail and Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex Group that is expected to help expand worldwide the Chinese e-commerce giant’s “New Retail” initiative, which combines the strengths of online shopping with those of physical retail stores.
Auchan Retail, which formed Sun Art Retail as a joint venture with Ruentex in 1998, said it has raised its stake in the Wan Chai-based hypermarket chain to 36.18 per cent for an undisclosed amount. Ruentex retained a 4.67 per cent interest in the venture.
“We will be going to the global market with this alliance,” Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong said in a press conference in Hong Kong on Monday.