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Ant Financial, an Alibaba subsidiary and the operator of AliPay, is acquiring a UK based money transfer company WorldFirst for more than £500m (US$640m).
Alibaba Group Holding Limited announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31st December 2018.
The company had another strong quarter. In the press release, Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, commented that “Our resilient operating and financial performance is a direct reflection of our persistent focus on better serving our growing base of nearly 700 million consumers across retail, digital entertainment and local consumer services. Our growth is also driven by the power of Alibaba’s cloud and data technology that helps expedite the digital transformation of millions of enterprises.”
Highlights of the group’s third-quarter performance are summarised below.
Keep up-to-date with the latest retail developments from Asia.
RedMart, an online grocery platform, was acquired by Lazada in 2016, but kept it as a separate business until now. It will be integrated into Lazada’s platform in March, allowing shoppers to buy both groceries and other products on Lazada in the same location.
RedMart shoppers can continue using the existing app until 11:59pm on 14th March, before the migration happens. They will then need the Lazada app to continue grocery shopping from 15th March. Orders will be fulfilled by Lazada while orders with other sellers from the marketplace will be fulfilled separately.
Lazada’s online supermarket plans will extend beyond Singapore. RedMart’s co-founder Roger Egan will lead Lazada's entry into online grocery shopping and delivery network across the region. The retailer will launch at least one more supermarket online in another city for the second half of this year.
We know that online grocery has huge growth potential in Asia, but the growth will vary in different countries, so retailers need to choose where they invest wisely. The competition is fluid and partnerships often drive growth into new countries. RedMart’s grocery experience in Singapore, coupled with Lazada’s strong network in Southeast Asia, puts the retailer is in a great position to expand into new markets.
The ecommerce giant is launching a new technology that enables the blind and sight-impaired shop online.
Smart Touch is a piece of silicone film that sticks to smartphone screens. The film has three textured touchscreen buttons that users can feel along the edges of the screen for commands such as “go back,”, “return to homepage” and “confirm”. The commands can be tailored, depending on the app. For example, when paired with Taobao app, the touchscreen buttons can represent “My Shopping Cart”, “Tmall Golbal” and “Tmall Supermarket”.
Smart Touch is a joint effort between Damo Academy, Alibaba’s $15bn global research program, and China’s Tsinghua University.
Source: Alibaba
Smart Touch was not the first accessibility technology that Alibaba introduced. Last year, Taobao (Alibaba’s online marketplace) added Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to its pages, enabling Taobao’s 300,000 daily active users who are blind to “read” texts on images.
“Images are becoming ever more important in the shopping experience,” said Wang Yongpan, the algorithm specialist that led the OCR upgrade. “A typical product page on the site contains about 40 images, and most product specifications and descriptions are often found within images, rather than typed out in plain text.”
Making the platform more user-friendly is high on by Taobao’s agenda. “If I had to do one thing this year, that would be to make Taobao simpler and bring [us] back to our original purpose,” President Jiang FanJiang said.
Taobao is making good progress in improving online shopping experience for the visually impaired. Its data shows that it takes less than a minute for a shopper who is blind to complete the shopping journey online, from searching the product to making the payment.
The retailer completed Indonesia’s first government approved drone flight, a breakthrough for drone delivery in Southeast Asia.
The test flight took place on 8th January 2019, in West Java, Indonesia. It is a joint project between JD.com, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Indonesian government. The news of JD.com’s breakthrough was announced at the WEF’s annual meeting.
The drone delivered backpacks and books to MIS Nurul Falah Leles Elementary School in Jagabita Village, Parung Panjang, Indonesia.
Villages like Jagabita are typically difficult to reach using conventional on-the-ground transportations because of the treacherous road conditions. Drone technology provides an effective and efficient means to reach these villages for the first time.
Source: JD.com
JD.com has been using drones for deliveries in rural areas of China for over two years. “We have seen the profound impact that the technology can have on people’s lives around the country,” said Jon Liao, Chief Strategy Officer at JD.com.
Indonesia has 17,000 islands, where drone technology has potential to make a much bigger impact.
“This trial represents the first government approved drone delivery operation in Indonesian history,” said Timothy Reuter, Head of Drones and Tomorrow’s Airspace at the WEF. “These tests are an opportunity for Indonesia to become a leader in the Southeast Asia region by leveraging drone delivery to improve access to vital medical, humanitarian, and commercial goods in remote areas.”
JD.com and WEF will work together on drone projects in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
This test flight is only the beginning.
We reveal Asia's top 10 online grocery ecommerce retailers, their growth forecasts over the next five years and the strategies that will help them win…
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