Alibaba Group, the Chinese internet giant and owner of, among others, the AliExpress shopping portal, will invest USD 2.9 billion in Sun Art - the largest hypermarket chain in China. As part of the alliance with Alibaba, French retailer Auchan will increase its stake in the retail chain.
The transaction is part of an alliance between Alibaba Group, Auchan Retail and Ruentex Group. It is from the latter company that Alibaba will buy a stake in Sun Art for USD 2.87 billion, thereby taking 36.16% of the hypermarket chain's shares. Auchan will also increase its stake, to 36.18 percent of shares. Taiwan's Ruentex will hold 4.67 percent of shares in Sun Art.
Sun Art is the leader of China's grocery market, with an 8.2 percent share according to Kantar Worldpanel research. It operates about 450 hypermarkets in China under the RT-Mart and Auchan banners, and has recently begun opening Auchan Minute stores as well, which have not a single employee.
Alibaba Group, the internet giant, has invested more than USD 9 billion in physical stores since 2015, including in so-called "unmanned" stores. Alibaba plans to introduce innovative solutions based on big data in Sun Art stores as well. - Physical stores should be upgraded through data-driven technology and personalized services - comments Daniel Zhang, CEO at Alibaba.
Alibaba's entry into Sun Art is also part of its rivalry with the world's largest retail chain, Walmart, which is in strategic cooperation on the Chinese market with another large shopping portal, JD.com.
As Reuters reports, 85 percent of retail trade in China still takes place "offline." The grocery market, worth USD 500 billion in the Middle Kingdom, is therefore a very tempting morsel for Alibaba.
source: Gazeta.pl
