Chinese electronic commerce giant Alibaba Group announced a strategic partnership with Shanghai merchandising conglomerate Bailian Group in the field of new formats of retail merchandise development, reports WWD.
Bailian Group is one of the largest retail trade enterprises in China, which has 4,700 trade outlets in 200 cities, including supermarkets, shops and pharmacies. Alibaba, in turn, has an active user base of around 500 million people. As it was told at Alibaba, it is not a question of financial investments at the moment. Cooperation between the two companies involves the integration of online and offline businesses.
“The strategic partnership will allow to implement a new concept of Alibaba in the field of retail trade and it will give consumers the opportunity to get new experience, and us – to improve the efficiency of logistics and service” – the words of Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Zhang Yun. According to his words, the two corporations are planning to create a new model of trade with the active involvement of “big data.”
