Chinese e-commerce and technology concern Alibaba and U.S. grocer Kroger have had early discussions on working together, encompassing a meeting in which U.S. executives traveled to China, a source familiar with the concern said.
The business development talks are at an initial stage, and it is not clear if they wish lead to any cooperation, the person said, declining to be named.
The discussions revile as U.S. e-commerce company Amazon.com has expanded aggressively into groceries with its acquirement of Whole Foods Market.
The talks between the two firms were reported earlier by the New York Prop.
Spokespeople for Kroger in the United States and Alibaba in China did not immediately come back to requests for comment.
This week Amazon opened to the public its Amazon Go checkout-free grocery co-op give credence to, which relies on cameras and sensors to track what shoppers carry away from the shelves.
Amazon’s renewed push into groceries with survive year’s Whole Foods acquisition put pressure on leading U.S. supermarket Kroger to remodel technology including mobile ordering and delivery. Kroger is rolling out curbside pickup as one way to fend off Amazon.
Alibaba has been presenting an aggressive push into working with U.S. and Canadian companies that could be intrigued in selling in China as well as rolling out its cloud services and payment products. The talks with Kroger were not CEO-level, disclosed the person, describing Kroger as one of many U.S. companies holding initial examinations with the Chinese company.
In China, Alibaba’s Hema supermarket gyve has become a test bed for the e-commerce firm’s move into traditional retail, where facile phones are used to order, pay and get information about items.
Kroger, which wants to merchandise more general merchandise like Amazon and Walmart, could plain customers to the Alibaba site, where they could buy general deal in, the New York Post reported, citing a source.