Walmart to Open 30 New Alibaba Concept Store Teases Future of Fashion to 40 More stores in 5 Years in Chengdu

Walmart plans to open 30 to 40 more stores in the next five years in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. A strategic cooperation memorandum was signed between Walmart and the Municipal Government of Chengdu on July 2. The new stores will include Sam's Club, Walmart Hypermarket as well as Walmart On July 4, debuted its first “FashionAI” concept store, demonstrating a stress-free Supermarket. way to shop with the help of .

Chengdu's population ● The pilot store, open for a limited time only from Thursday through Saturday at exceeded 16 million, Polytechnic University, showcases Guess apparel through innovations such as “smart and its GDP reached mirrors,” which display product information on a nearby screen when shoppers are touching 1.39 trillion yuan (about or picking up a garment.

$209 billion) in 2017. ● The smart mirror also makes mix-and-match recommendations and points to where the Walmart opened its first suggested items can be found in the store, so shoppers can try on a complete outfit at one go. store in Chengdu in 1997. So far it has 13 ● In addition, each item has its own Intelligent lock, supported by radio-frequency Walmart Hypermarkets Identification, gyro-sensors and Bluetooth low-energy chips. This allows the mirror to and one Sam's Club. more accurately capture movement and spot the colors, styles and attributes that are most popular among customers.

● Currently under development by a New Retail-focused research team at Alibaba, the Fashion AI initiative taps ranging from machine learning to computer vision to “learn” from consumers, designers and fashion aficionados within the eCommerce giant’s ecosystem. These insights include images of more than 500,000 outfits put together by stylists on , as well as expertise shared by brands.

● FashionAI’s recommendation capabilities expand beyond the limits of a brick-and-mortar store. Alibaba plans to release a new “virtual wardrobe” feature on its Mobile Taobao app, which would allow shoppers to view clothes they’ve tried on in-store, as well as mix-and-match recommendations across brands that include items from more merchants on Alibaba’s shopping sites, Taobao and . China to Enjoy World's Longest Prime Day

Chinese consumers will enjoy 52 hours of Amazon Prime Day, the online retail giant's annual shopping event for its Prime members, and purchase discounted overseas products from the Amazon Global Store, which covers top destinations among Chinese customers for cross- border shopping, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.

● Prime Day, which includes exclusive and special-edition products that are available just for Prime members, will start at 11 am on July 16 and end at 3 pm on July 18 in China, the longest Prime Day among the 17 countries around the world that join the event.

● At present, the total number of Amazon Prime members worldwide Rural Taobao to Expand to has reached over 100 million. Amazon is touting deals across 1000 Counties categories, like baby products, toys, fashion, kitchenware, cosmetics, beauty and home appliance products. Alibaba Group’s rural initiative - Rural Taobao - ● In October 2016, Amazon launched Amazon Prime service in China, plans to expand its coverage to 1,000 counties and the first global membership program with unlimited free cross-border 150,000 villages across China in the next three shipping. years.

Launched in October 2014, Rural Taobao is one of Alibaba’s three main strategic projects in addition eCommerce Startup Pinduoduo Plans US Float to globalization and . It aims to buttress trade between China’s remote regions and urban areas. Presently, around half of China’s The eCommerce website Pinduoduo, which offers low-price items based 1.3 billion reside in rural areas. on a group-buying model, is seeking to raise at least $1 billion in a United States IPO. As part of the project, a network of eCommerce service centers has been created at the county ● A new entrant to China's 6.1 trillion yuan ($920 billion) online and town level to provide services that enable shopping arena, Pinduoduo saw revenue more than triple to $278 villagers to purchase products online, as well as million in 2017, according to its filing with the US Securities and sell their goods via Rural Taobao’s dedicated online Exchange Commission, under the name Walnut Street Group marketplace and other Alibaba eCommerce Holding Ltd. Its losses rose 55 percent to 525 million yuan, while platforms. transaction volumes reached 141.2 billion yuan. In this way, villagers can enjoy a wider range of ● Founded three years ago by ex- engineer Colin Huang, products and promote their own products beyond -based Pinduoduo operates like a social network and the village borders. group-buying mashup. Users spot deals on the app, share links online and recruit friends to buy together to get a better price, usually up to 20 percent cheaper.

● The site's nearly 300 million users rely heavily on Holdings Ltd's popular WeChat messenger app to circulate product information and jump on the discount bandwagon. Tencent is the company's second-largest shareholder with a 18.5 percent stake, after Huang.

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