JD.com has invested in a convenience store brand for the first time, following the trend of online retailers tapping into bricks-and-mortar businesses.
China’s No. 2 e-commerce company snapped up a 20% share of Fujian province-based convenience store chain Fook Convenience Stores for 31.25 million yuan ($4.5 million), becoming the retailer's second-largest shareholder, it said in a statement Tuesday.
It’s part of JD.com’s efforts to expand its “omnichannel strategy” which takes in both online and offline business, the company says.
JD's arch-rival Alibaba brought its online sales platform Tmall to offline vendors in 2017. As of January 2019, it had reached a total of over 1 million retail stores in cities nationwide.
Read the full story on Caixin Global later today.
Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook
Sign in with 财新