Food
French retail group Auchan withdraws from China: the company sells its Chinese division Sun Art to Alibaba for 3 billion euros. Both groups have been working closely together there for some time.
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General
As from next year, Alibaba will start delivering online orders with autonomous robots. At its annual technology conference, the Chinese Amazon rival unveiled its new fleet of self-driving robots, capable of finding their way all by themselves.
The days of low-cost packages imported directly from China are over, experts at the University of Antwerp predict. The sharp increase in shipping and delivery costs coupled with the capacity decrease caused by the coronavirus only add to existing problems.
Alibaba saw its turnover climb 35 % in the past fiscal year, beating its own forecasts by a landslide. The coronavirus crisis pushed the platform's total sales over a trillion dollars, a record.
The current crisis is forcing us, retailers, to take a break and look in the mirror: are we still relevant, do we still see opportunities, do we still want to invest, do we still feel the drive to get back to work?
Furniture
Swedish furniture giant Ikea has started selling its articles via Alibaba's Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall. It is the first time in its 77-year history that the furniture giant sells through a third party.
Alibaba has had another record-breaking quarter, with a 38 % turnover growth and significant profit gains. However, the corona crisis may spell very bad news for the e-commerce giant.
Terry von Bibra, who has headed the European branch of Alibaba since 2016, has left the company. It is not yet sure who will succeed him.
Alibaba is trying to lure European sellers away from its American arch rival Amazon: the Chinese giant has scrapped its monthly fees and is now charging lower commissions than its main competitor.
Barely a year after our experts described "The Future of Shopping: Where everyone is a retailer", Alibaba is aiming to make exactly that happen - literally. The e-tailer is now encouraging all its (one billion!) Chinese users to open their own web shop on the platform.
Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba has released more details about the investments that logistics subsidiary Cainiao has planned for the Belgian Liège Airport. It claims to have invested than 100 million euros in the project, which should create 900 direct jobs.
Singles’ Day has once again been a great success for Alibaba: in total, consumers bought 268 billion yuan (35 billion euros) worth of goods, setting a new record. However, criticism from environmentalists of such ‘sales splurges’ is growing.
In the past quarter, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba once again saw a strong increase in turnover and profit. Flourishing cloud activities are at the basis of the growth, which was bigger than expected.
In ten years' time, we may well no longer know 11 November as an Armistice, but rather as a shopping holiday? If that were to be the case, it would be due to Alibaba, who this year even managed to entice Taylor Swift. Even Carrefour has come over to the idea.
Alibaba is aiming for no less than one billion active consumers each year by the end of 2024. The Chinese retail group is expected to generate more than ten trillion Chinese yuan (approximately 1200 billion euros) in gross sales.
The new generations of consumers are shopping radically different compared to their parents. This forces retailers to reinvent themselves drastically. But it's no reason to be intimidated: there are many opportunities. "Would you think Amazon offers such a great experience, maybe?
