A delegation from Freshhema, a platform for Alibaba Group's new retail strategy, visited Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, on Oct 9, with the intention of deepening cooperation.
The delegation was led by Hou Yi, vice-president of Alibaba Group and CEO of Freshhema. Hu Yabo, secretary of WHDZ's work committee, welcomed the representatives and held a meeting with them.
Freshhema is new supermarket selling food both online and in physical stores. Thanks to the firm's global procurement system, the platform is able to sell food imported from nearly 100 countries.
Before April 28 this year, when the first store of Freshhema opened in Wuhan, Freshhema had signed cooperation agreements with WHDZ, together with Cainiao Network, an Alibaba logistics arm, to build the operational center of Freshhema's supply chain for central China in WHDZ.
With investment of 2 billion yuan ($288.6 million), the first phase of the project will build a warehouse for Freshhema to meet distribution and supply requirements of all its stores in the central China region.
It is expected that construction work on the project will begin at the end of this year and be completed in 2020.
The zone is currently in a key period of industrial upgrading, and Freshhema is joining us at an exciting time, said Hu Yabao.
WHDZ will also learn benefit from Alibaba's business methods, new ideas, new models, and new formats, to create an optimal environment for the group's business in the zone, he added.
A delegation from Freshhema and representatives from Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone meet on Oct 9. [Photo provided to wedz.gov.cn]
Hou Yi (2nd from left) attends the meeting in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Oct 9. [Photo provided to wedz.gov.cn]
