CHINA: Metro Group joins forces with Alibaba Group in China | Progresiv
Metro Group, which owns a cash-and-carry subsidiary operating in China, has launched a cross-border online store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global platform, offering German goods to Chinese consumers. The store is available under the domain www.metro.tmall.hk. 
The online store assortment will consist of approximately 100 SKUs of the retailer's private label brands and most popular German brands of dairy, canned goods, coffee, chocolate, and cosmetics. The food assortment will be expanded gradually. Nonfood items will be offered in the future. The goods will be shipped in advance and stored in Shanghai Free Trade Zone warehouses to assure supply continuity.
Shoppers will benefit from cross-border shipment from the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Alibaba’s specialized team will assure fast customs clearance.
The two companies will also explore omnichannel and collaboration opportunities in areas including global sourcing, supply-chain optimization, and leveraging market insights from big data. Alibaba will partner in big data analysis to support demand fulfilment and help more European brands establish a fast track to Chinese shoppers. (www.kantarretailiq.com)
