阿里联手实体百货集团，发力“新零售”

阿里巴巴集团近日宣布，与中国门店数量最多的零售企业百联集团结成战略合作关系，从而利用电商巨头阿里巴巴的强劲发展势头，通过大数据来提高实体店的销售额和利润水平。

据透露，此次合作并不涉及对百联集团进行资本层面的投资。这笔交易也是在阿里的在线销售额增长放缓的背景下，阿里集团为在零售市场上攫取更大的份额而进行的一次初步尝试。

除了与百联集团进行合作外，阿里巴巴还斥资46亿美元入股了电器零售商苏宁云商。同时阿里还抛出了26亿美元的控股邀约，力图启动对百货商场运营公司银泰商业的私有化。此外阿里还收购了连锁超市三江购物的部分股权。

与阿里签约的消息一出，百联集团的股价立刻出现大涨，不过分析师们也提醒道，百联集团要想通过阿里的大数据对集团收益产生显著影响，可能至少需要几年的时间。

中国市场研究集团（China Market Research Group）的驻上海分析师本•卡文德认为：“各个品牌在推动实体购物和网络购物的一体化上存在着很大的动力，但目前的收益还是很有限的。”

双方首先将利用阿里的大数据能力在供应链技术上展开合作。然后，百联集团会将阿里的支付宝服务整合到集团的现有会员项目上。

百联集团在全国200多个城市运营着4,700余家门店，包括超市、便利店和药店等，比苏宁、银泰和三江旗下的所有门店加起来还多一倍多。

阿里巴巴的一名发言人拒绝评论此次合作将涉及多少家实体店。百联集团的发言人则并未应我们的评论请求。

阿里巴巴目前已经拥有了约5亿人的庞大的活跃用户群。它表示，公司将通过为零售企业和各大品牌研发大数据管理工具，进军市值达4.8万亿美元的中国零售产业。

据贝恩咨询公司（Bain & Company）称，到2020年前，中国的电商市场每年预计将以18%左右的速度增长，低于前四年35%的平均增长率。

贝恩咨询公司同时指出，虽然近年来，电子商务在中国的增长可谓突飞猛进，但去年，实体店的销售额占中国整个零售产业的比重依然高达84%。

在百联集团旗下的上市企业中，上海百联集团的股价在消息公布的当天午后交易中上涨10%，封在了涨停位置；联华超市股份上涨了6%，上海物贸股份也上涨了5%。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

China’s Alibaba Group Holding said it formed a strategic partnership with Bailian Group, the largest retailer by store numbers to join the e-commerce giant’s drive to use big data to improve and profit from brick-and-mortar sales.

The deal, which does not include any financial investment in Bailian, is the latest in Alibaba’s still nascent efforts to capture a bigger share of the retail market as online sales growth slows.

It has also spent $4.6 billion on a minority stake in appliances retailer Suning Commerce Group, is leading a $2.6 billion bid to take department store and shopping mall operator Intime Retail Group private and has bought a stake in grocery chain Sanjiang Shopping Club.

News of the agreement sent shares in Bailian Group firms surging but analysts cautioned it may take several years before returns from using big data can make a significant difference to earnings.

"There is a big push right now across brands to try and figure out how to mix physical and online shopping but gains so far have been limited," said Shanghai-based retail analyst Ben Cavender at China Market Research Group.

The two firms will initially cooperate on supply chain technology using Alibaba’s big data capabilities and will integrate Alipay payments with Bailian Group’s existing membership program.

Bailian operates 4,700 outlets in 200 cities including supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies - more than double the stores owned by Suning, Intime and Sanjiang combined.

An Alibaba spokesman declined to comment on how many stores will be involved in the new partnership. A Bailian spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Alibaba , which has an active user base of around 500 million, has said it wants to tap China’s entire $4.8 trillion retail economy by developing data-driven management tools for retailers and brands.

China’s e-commerce market is expected to average around 18% annually until 2020, according to consultancy Bain & Company, compared with an average rate of 35% during the preceding four years.

And while e-commerce has seen phenomenal growth in China, brick-and-mortar sales still accounted for 84% of total retail sales in China last year, Bain said.

Among Bailian Group firms, shares in Shanghai Bailian Group were up by the 10% daily limit in afternoon trade. Lianhua Supermarket Holdings rose 7% and Shanghai Material Trading climbed 5%.