Subject category:
Strategy and General Management
Published by:
Amity Research Centers
Length: 15 pages
Data source: Published sources
Abstract
Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods jolted the retail world across the globe and was said to mark the future of digital disruption in retail. In China, however, this trend was not new and the retail digital revolution was well underway, offering lessons to the outside world. Alibaba, one of the largest e-Commerce players was pushing ahead with its online-to-offline (O2O) strategy, making several large-scale offline investments. Its more recent venture was the Hema stores, an online-offline hybrid, completely powered by data and an app based, membership-only store. According to Alibaba, Hema was the 'most advanced manifestation of New Retail', completely transforming the grocery shopping experience. 'New Retail' was a concept advocated by Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. It was a 'consumer-experience-centric ecosystem' that was data driven. However, e-Commerce constituted only 15% of China's overall retail market, with Alibaba dominating the scene. How would this O2O trend impact the retail scene in China? What would become of the future of traditional retail and its ecosystem? How the future of Chinese retail would evolve remained to be seen.
About
Abstract
Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods jolted the retail world across the globe and was said to mark the future of digital disruption in retail. In China, however, this trend was not new and the retail digital revolution was well underway, offering lessons to the outside world. Alibaba, one of the largest e-Commerce players was pushing ahead with its online-to-offline (O2O) strategy, making several large-scale offline investments. Its more recent venture was the Hema stores, an online-offline hybrid, completely powered by data and an app based, membership-only store. According to Alibaba, Hema was the 'most advanced manifestation of New Retail', completely transforming the grocery shopping experience. 'New Retail' was a concept advocated by Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. It was a 'consumer-experience-centric ecosystem' that was data driven. However, e-Commerce constituted only 15% of China's overall retail market, with Alibaba dominating the scene. How would this O2O trend impact the retail scene in China? What would become of the future of traditional retail and its ecosystem? How the future of Chinese retail would evolve remained to be seen.