Starbucks to start coffee delivery in China with Alibaba – Business News

HONG KONG: Starbucks Corp. will partner with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to start delivering its beverages and bakery products to China, according to people with knowledge of the plans, deploying an effort to stave off competitors and turn around Sales in the country.

Ele.me, the Alibaba-owned meal delivery service, will occupy logistics in an agreement to be announced Thursday, according to the people, who have asked not to be named because Information is not yet public. Starbucks said last week that he planned to start deliveries with a partner this fall in Beijing and Shanghai.

A Starbucks representative stated that he was not commenting on speculation. Alibaba said the company and Starbucks "are always exploring new ways to deepen our long-term partnership in China." The two companies partnered to make interactive visits to the Starbucks Roastery high-tech store in Shanghai.

Starbucks comes into the game of late shipments as it faces a decline in rare sales in the world's second-largest economy. The company said that it aims to impose as a daily routine for savvy consumers in China, that the company hopes to surpass the United States as the largest business market in one decade.

Lifestyle Ritual

An all becomes a lifestyle ritual in China and consumer behavior is changing, "said Belinda Wong, general manager of Chinese business, at a conference phone last week

.to one of the people, without elaborate.The partnership will also not be exclusive, and the Starbucks Association with Tencent on mobile payments and social donations will not be exclusive. is not affected, says the person.

The coffee chain would be the last to jump on the delivery train in a country where everything from fresh produce to forklifts can be purchased online and shipped the same day. [19659002] China's vast sprawl has turned out to be a challenge The company is partly responding to competition in the urban areas of the local chain Luckin Coffee

Valuable Ally

The American giant wins a valuable ally in ele.m e, which commands hundreds of thousands of deliverymen on a daily basis. base all over China and synchronizes this logistics network with its e-commerce parent to improve efficiency.

Ant Financial, co-founder of Alibaba, is another start-up funder, which allows Starbucks to access the country's first mobile payment network and, potentially, a rich source consumer data.

Starbucks reported a 2% decline in comparable sales in its most recent quarter in China, after analysts' estimates. The chain aims to triple its business figure in China over the next five years.

It plans to operate 6,000 stores in 230 cities of mainland China by the end of the year 2022 – the pace of a new store every 15 hours. – Bloomberg