Tech giants are selling groceries too 阿里巴巴引领新零售变革
▲
Click 'BusinessTianjin' above to follow us
China's biggest e-commerce companies are hungry for groceries. Amazon's move to swallow Whole Foods for $13.7 billion grabbed attention in the U.S., and the internet giant has also been dabbling in cashier-less grocery stores. But experts say China is already ahead of the curve.
Alibaba, the country's biggest online shopping company, has introduced a grocery store that has both a virtual and physical presence. It quietly started rolling out the stores two years ago "because no one was watching and we wanted to try it out," Vice Chairman Joe Tsai said at a conference in Hong Kong last week.
Using the brand name Hema, the company wants a slice of China's rapidly growing online food market. The industry is expected to be worth $180 billion by 2020, according to specialist research organization IGD.
"China's definitely leading in terms of market size and the adoption of online grocery," said Shirley Zhu, Asia program director with IGD. But Alibaba and Amazon also "both prove the point that there's still a role for brick and mortar stores to play in e-commerce," she said, especially in fresh produce.
Costco + Amazon + Chipotle
Hema shoppers have to download the store's app and link it to an account on Alibaba-affiliated digital payment platform Alipay. They can shop online and get fresh groceries delivered, or they can have the produce cooked by Hema chefs and brought to their home ready to eat.
Alternatively, shoppers can go to the physical store and buy goods in person at the cashless checkout counters. They can also get their groceries cooked into a meal on the spot (for carryout or eating in the store's food court).
Shopping at one of Alibaba's Hema stores. It's kind of like Costco, Amazon and Chipotle rolled into one store.
The rise in online shopping often signals the end of brick and mortar stores. But industry experts say that an in-store experience goes a long way in building customer trust and that -- in the case of groceries -- physical stores can also be used as warehouses.
"The important thing about this (Hema) concept, which is something Amazon must learn when they acquire Whole Foods, is that we are now using the retail locations for fulfillment," Tsai said.
Walmart stores as warehouses
That's something China's second largest e-commerce company, JD.com, has already mastered. "Unlike books, you can't simply keep fresh apples in thousands of warehouses throughout the country and wait for demand to catch up," said Josh Gartner, JD's vice president of international corporate affairs. "Having a network of brick-and-mortar stores with existing local demand makes the model immediately scalable."
Through a couple of strategic partnerships, JD's network includes about 350 physical stores doubling as fulfillment centers for online grocery orders.
The tech company bought Walmart's Chinese e-commerce site last year and now hosts the U.S. retailer's various products, including groceries, on its own e-commerce platform.
Roughly 130 of Walmart's more than 400 brick-and-mortar stores in China double as warehouses for JD. That's a lot more than Hema's 20 locations, most of which are in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing.
JD already covers a good deal of territory. It took a significant stake in Chinese grocery chain Yonghui Superstores two years ago and uses about 200 of its locations for deliveries.
The e-commerce company says its partnerships help it deliver most online grocery orders within 30 minutes, thanks to a fleet of couriers navigating Chinese cities on scooters or motorbikes. Hema also promises a similar speedy deliver for customers within 3 kilometers of a store.
With a growing number of smartphone users and rising population of young, middle-class shoppers, analysts say China's online grocery market shows no signs of slowing down.
阿里巴巴引领新零售变革
进军实体零售业后，阿里巴巴集团在中国发现价值四万亿美元的零售商机，有意开展百货公司业务。
亚马逊以137亿美元收购美国 全食超市（Whole Foods Market Inc.）后不够一个月，阿里巴巴的高管便商论应对策略，并研究数据及未来挑战。马云认为根据现时公司规模状况，集团需调整心态，摆脱轻资产营运模式，以增加其在全球贸易市场的占比。
马云：“还公司还很年轻，规模很小，轻资产模式是很不错；而当公司变得更强大时，你就会想你的资产需要更多 “重量”。轻资产还是重资产，没有说那个才好，而其实最好的是混合模式；为了提升效率，你应该把两种模式连接起来。但以阿里巴巴今天的规模来讲，集团必须亲自采取重型模式，而不该是由别人来做，因为你必须投资在自己建立的业务上。”
“情况就像爬山一样，当你只是在一千米高的位置，你很享受。很好。在100米之下，你也会觉得不错；但当你走到四千米，你没有足够的氧气。把类似的情况放到企业之中，你就是没有足够的合作伙伴，也不知道可以跟谁分享想法和分担忧虑。而我们现在就是爬到五、六千米高，所以我们会觉得孤单。”
阿里巴巴开设新的Hema超市，以应对亚马逊和其他企业的竞争。消费者可以享受一站式购物服务，例如透过手机应用程式付款，扫描货物条码以获取产品资讯，以及现场点餐。Hema超市更提供送货服务，确保门店3公里内30分钟内送达。副主席蔡崇信指阿里巴巴的目标是在旗下的商场采用类似模式。
蔡崇信：“消费者通过Hema超市在网上购物，货物会在30分钟内送达。这种服务需要不同的物流机制配合。而仓库的位置也会不同。”
“至于商场的概念也是类似，商场的位置应要满足到店内服务，同时避免让人有“商场”的感觉——附近居民可以向我们下单，我们就可以把货物送上家门。而商场可以涵盖更多类别的货物，包括日用品、服装、电子产品等。我们的目标是透过商场的发展，扩展服务的类别。”
“我们不一定要拥有这些店铺，阿里巴巴将银泰百货私有化，以开创先例，展现出“线上线下购物”的结合。但我不认为继续收购重型房地资产是明智的做法，所以我们会偏向采取合作的经营模式。”
首席执行官张勇指透过把店铺转型成仓库的概念，预期阿里巴巴平台每天发出的包裹数量将能达至十亿个。
张勇：“现时，透过我们平台每天发出的包裹数量大约是5,500万个。我们深信数量在数年后能增加至十亿个。”
“中国的零售市场的规模价值大约是30万亿元，问题是：你如何重新优化送货服务？您不需要把包裹从仓库运到另一个200公里外的城市，但可以从附近商店发货。这样仍创造很多新的送货服务，而且是更方便。所以，今天的这些物流系统应该融入到商务系统之中。”