April 19: FIELDS China Shuts Down
FIELDS China, the longest running English language online grocer has ceased operations as of today, April 19, 2019.
An announcement was posted on their website homepage, stating the end of operations comes from a change in development strategy of Sun Art Retail Group, the investment holding company of FIELDS.
All services on FIELDS China platforms have been halted. All pages on the site redirect to the notice, and the mobile application has been taken offline.
The online closure notice also stipulates "all after-sales services will be delayed until May 30, 2019.” Assuming that means orders that have already been placed will be fulfilled.
A hotline (400-820-7708) has been provided. However, calling the number and selecting either Chinese or English options currently redirects to an extended hold on the call.
FIELDS just celebrated their 10-year anniversary last week, announced via their last post on their WeChat official account (fields_china) on April 8.
About Sun Art Retail
Sun Art Retail is a leading hypermarket complexes operator in China. They operate hypermarket business under two banners “Auchan” (歐尚) and “RT-Mart” (大潤發). As of 31 December 2017, Sun Art Retail had a nationwide footprint of 461 hypermarket complexes covering 226 cities across 29 provinces in China.
On 20 November 2017, Alibaba Group Holding Limited ("Alibaba Group"), Auchan Retail International S.A. and Ruentex Group announced an alliance to explore new retail opportunities in China’s food retail sector. As part of this strategic alliance, Alibaba Group invested a total of appoximately HK$22.4 billion to obtain an aggregate direct and indirect stake of approximately 36.16% in Sun Art Retail Group Limited.
Reached out to the last known representative of FIELDS for comment, but have yet to hear from them.
For updates on this, click read more. The web version will be updated accordingly.
Read More:
The Shanghai Scoop (April 2019)