Grocery Wars: Alibaba and JD.com Compete Against Supermarkets, Corner Stores

(Beijing) — For China's 720 million Internet users, websites run by the country's two biggest e-commerce companies, Alibaba Group and JD.com, have increasingly become the preferred shopping destinations. From trendy clothing and exquisite accessories to household appliances and the latest tech gadgets, a mouse click can get them almost anything.

Now the e-commerce behemoths are going after everyday indispensables — groceries and household items. Over the past few months, both have poured hundreds of millions of yuan into a price war aimed at dragging shoppers away from supermarkets and corner stores. Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other online retailing giants are blazing a similar trail in the U.S.