Alibaba switches sights to bricks and mortar with first physical mall
Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is diversifying its interests into bricks and mortar with the construction of a traditional shopping mall near its Hangzhou headquarters.
Alibaba switches sights to bricks & mortar with first physical mall
More Mall will stretch to five floors of accommodation on 40,000sq/m of land when it opens in April, with workers currently beavering away on completing the interior. Confirming that physical retail isn’t dead yet Alibaba is shifting resources into carving out an urban presence as part of chief executive Jack Ma’s efforts to demonstrate that the business is not exclusively online.
That approach has already seen Alibaba roll out its own Hema grocery format which enables shoppers to make purchases make app-based purchases but it is now keen to give physical form to other brands within the Alibaba family.
Such moves mirror those taking place at Amazon which recently acquired Whole Foods as it seeks to build its own presence.