Alibaba’s new purchase of a US$3.6bn controlling stake in China hypermarket major Sun Art Retail Group is likely to create a large shift in supplier-distributor dynamics locally – with one analyst predicting it will be brands which may lose out.
JD.com has launched its first overseas unmanned convenience store in Indonesia — the JD.ID X-Mart — with a strong snacks and drink offering alongside fashion and beauty items.
‘New retail’ — where online and offline strategies converge — may be the sector’s hottest topic after it was coined by Alibaba founder Jack Ma last year, but what is the thought behind the buzz word?
The merger of offline and online retail being pioneered by the likes the Alibaba — dubbed ‘new retail’ — will provide the foundation on which emerging economies will be built, a new report claims.
Alibaba says it has already completed transforming a quarter of RT-Mart’s 400 China stores, equipping them with ‘new retail’ technology designed to bridge the gap between e-commerce and traditional bricks-and-mortar operations.