China news and analysis

In September, Alibaba’s supermarket chain, Freshippo, opened 30 new stores across China, averaging one store per day, amounting to 350 locations. Freshippo’s latest expansion developments The recent openings include 16 Freshippo Xiansheng supermarkets (meaning “fresh food” in Mandarin”), three Freshippo Mini stores, 9 Freshippo outlets and one Freshippo X club across China. In addition t...

If you have not heard about Temu before, you probably would start noticing more and more of its ads on your social media after reading about it. 1. What is Temu? Temu, launched in September 2022, is a cross-border ecommerce platform owned by PDD Holdings (formerly known as Pinduoduo) in China. It has been one of the recently most downloaded apps in the UK and US with 50 million downloads in m...

Walmart reported ‘better-than-expected’ results in sales, operating income and adjusted EPS in the second quarter. Off the back of this, it has increased its full-year guidance. Here we delve into those numbers and explore the latest updates to its strategy.   Key numbers Q4 total revenue increased by 5.7% to $161.6 bn Sales in US stores grew by 5.4% (net), with Sam’s Club up 5.3% (...

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has reported a 14% year-on-year increase in revenue, reaching RMB234,156 million (US$32,292 million) and a 63% increase in net income, reaching RMB33,000 million (US$4,551 million) in the June quarter 2023. This compares to the same period last year, which was impacted by stringent pandemic lockdowns. Segment revenue figures compared to the same period last ...

Freshippo (part of the Alibaba Group) has unveiled its fully-automated supply chain using vehicles, robots and cloud technology to supply stores in eastern China from Shanghai to Hangzhou. With nearly 1 million square feet, this centre increases efficiencies in the supply chain The centre, which took three years to build, can sort over 2.8 million items per day, including a mix of local a...

Alibaba opened 12 new stores on the same day in eight cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Concepts adapted to cater to different groups Seven newly opened Freshippo stores are adopting the latest store concept, which will offer a wider variety of products, a broader delivery area, a spacious shopping environment, and an enhanced service experience. All new stores...

JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is gearing up to enter the grocery retail market by opening retail grocery stores through the merger of its 7Fresh supermarket with other business units, including its group-buying arm Pinqin. New division to explore innovative retail models Yan Xiaobing, the former head of JD.com’s international business, will assume leadership of the new business and wi...

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has announced the appointment of Eddie Wu as its new CEO, effective from September 1. Currently serving as the chairman of Taobao and Tmall group, Wu will take on the CEO role, while Joseph C. Tsai, the co-founder and executive vice chairman, will succeed Daniel Zhang as the Group’s chairman. Track record in mobile business from new leadership In his...

For a second successive quarter, Costco’s performance was impacted by softer sales in big ticket non-food discretionary items. This was partly due to cautious shopping in the ongoing inflationary environment, but also due to tough comparatives where these products performed better than usual in the last two years. Here we look at those results in more detail and highlight five key takeouts. Co...

Alibaba’s Freshippo supermarket in China will stock Australian retailer Coles’ private label products. Freshippo working with 13 global retailers Freshippo is expanding its range of quality imports using its global sourcing capability. Imported products from the best sources around the world is a way to introduce innovative products that are trendy and popular. The retailer is also partneri...