Zi 字媒體

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%.阿里巴巴集團近日宣布，與門店數量最多的零售企業百聯集團結成戰略合作關係，從而利用電商巨頭阿里巴巴的強勁發展勢頭，通過大數據來提高實體店的銷售額和利潤水平。據透露，此次合作並不涉及對百聯集團進行資本層面的投資。這筆交易也是在阿里的在線銷售額增長放緩的背景下，阿里集團為在零售市場上攫取更大的份額而進行的一次初步嘗試。除了與百聯集團進行合作外，阿里巴巴還斥資46億美元入股了電器零售商蘇寧雲商。同時阿里還拋出了26億美元的控股邀約，力圖啟動對百貨商場運營公司銀泰商業的私有化。此外阿里還收購了連鎖超市三江購物的部分股權。與阿里簽約的消息一出，百聯集團的股價立刻出現大漲，不過分析師們也提醒道，百聯集團要想通過阿里的大數據對集團收益產生顯著影響，可能至少需要幾年的時間。市場研究集團（China Market Research Group）的駐上海分析師本•卡文德認為：「各個品牌在推動實體購物和網路購物的一體化上存在著很大的動力，但目前的收益還是很有限的。」雙方首先將利用阿里的大數據能力在供應鏈技術上展開合作。然後，百聯集團會將阿里的支付寶服務整合到集團的現有會員項目上。百聯集團在全國200多個城市運營著4,700餘家門店，包括超市、便利店和藥店等，比蘇寧、銀泰和三江旗下的所有門店加起來還多一倍多。阿里巴巴的一名發言人拒絕評論此次合作將涉及多少家實體店。百聯集團的發言人則並未應我們的評論請求。阿里巴巴目前已經擁有了約5億人的龐大的活躍用戶群。它表示，公司將通過為零售企業和各大品牌研發大數據管理工具，進軍市值達4.8萬億美元的零售產業。據貝恩諮詢公司（Bain & Company）稱，到2020年前，的電商市場每年預計將以18%左右的速度增長，低於前四年35%的平均增長率。貝恩諮詢公司同時指出，雖然近年來，電子商務在的增長可謂突飛猛進，但去年，實體店的銷售額占整個零售產業的比重依然高達84%。在百聯集團旗下的上市企業中，上海百聯集團的股價在消息公布的當天午後交易中上漲10%，封在了漲停位置；聯華超市股份上漲了6%，上海物貿股份也上漲了5%。（財富中文網）譯者：朴成奎