Alibaba's Hema Fresh to team up with property developers

Hema Fresh, the prototype supermarket of Alibaba Group’s New Retail concept, will team up with 13 commercial property developers in China to boost its presence across neighborhoods and communities.

The data-driven retail chain pledged on Wednesday to help digitalize the commercial infrastructure for leading developers, such as Evergrande Group, Country Garden and Intime.

The tie-in would include synchronizing membership systems, hosting local community activities and providing other real estate-related, value-added services, the parties announced in an event in Shanghai, without disclosing details.

The move serves to fuel momentum to its goal of having 100 stores by the end of 2018, according to Hema’s Chief Executive Officer Hou Yi.

“By deepening its push into more cities and neighborhoods, Hema is eyeing to become a social hub encompassing all local services,” Hou said.

Hema, which features fresh seafood and prepared groceries, provides customers the option to either pop into the store and choose their goods, or order online through a proprietary app.

The stores also double as warehouses for delivery in 30 minutes within a radius of 3 kilometers.

Real estate properties stand to benefit from the huge online traffic derived from Alibaba’s 500 million-plus monthly active users, as well as the data analytics capabilities that can depict customer shopping preferences, thus making marketing more precise and effective.

“After the introduction of Hema, we’ve added an average of 3,000 to 4,000 young customers per month,” said Fanny Leung, vice-president of Chongbang Group.

Customer flow doubled in six months after Hema opened its outlet in Beijing Cuiwei Department Store’s Dacheng Road branch last July, said Huang Zhenwang, general manager of the shopping center.