What:  Alibaba’s subsidiary, Freshippo, is launching 10 Store X hypermarkets in China this year.

Why it is important:  Although seemingly traditional in surface, the hypermarkets opened by Alibaba leverage the use of technology to promote a one to one marketing, in a massified way. This allows to increase the average basked and clearly target affluent Chinese customers and families.

Alibaba is launching a new chain of supermarkets in China called Store X, targeting affluent families, with 2 stores already opened and 8 more to come this year. These stores are larger iteration of Alibaba’s Freshippo stores (approximately twice as large).

The first Store X was opened in Shanghai last October on 18,000 sqm, stocked with 40% of private labels. It became profitable in 2 months, with an average spending of USD 152, and capitalizes on Alibaba’s overall capabilities to pilot ‘hyperlocal retail’, a mix of digital understanding and knowledge of the customer and the possibility to leverage digital capabilities to propose outstanding services such as instant delivery. To that extent, Alibaba claims that this retail proposal is a clear upgrade from the US initial model of hypermarkets, as it relies on a deeply personalized relationship with the customer.

In addition, Store X benefits from the Tmall Global brand offering, therefore proposing a broad access to international brands too.

Alibaba Rolls out Hypermarket Chain ‘Store X’ to Cater to Affluent Urban Families in China