Starbucks Partners with Alibaba on Delivery in China

Global food and beverages giant Starbucks has partnered up with Alibaba in the aim of enhancing its presence throughout China.

The collaboration will see Starbucks leveraging Alibaba's physical and digital properties including its delivery platform Elem. me and Hema supermarket stores across the country, alongside its Alipay and Taobao services.

“Our transformational partnership with Alibaba will reshape modern retail and represents a significant milestone in our efforts to exceed the expectations of Chinese consumers,” said Kevin Johnson, President and CEO, Starbucks.

“Starbucks China is one to watch, and I have full confidence in the team that will bring the new innovation behind the Starbucks Experience to life.”

For Alibaba, the partnership represents a key opportunity to broaden its New Retail initiative that readily looks to transform the world of ecommerce by merging brick and mortar experiences with online retail spheres.

Introduced in 2016, the Company's New Retail scheme has become a key function of its wider growth strategy.

“Alibaba is thrilled to expand our existing partnership with Starbucks by leveraging our cutting-edge New Retail infrastructure and digital power to enable an unprecedented experience for consumers,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.

“This partnership is again a testament to the success of our New Retail strategy.”

Activity will begin in September 2018 with a pilot delivery programme being rolled out across Beijing and Shanghai, set to expand to more than 2,000 stores across 30 Chinese cities by the year's end.