British Grocer Sainsbury Testing Selling Products in China
September 11 2015 - 12:28PM
Dow Jones News
By Saabira Chaudhuri
LONDON--J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) has struck a deal with Alibaba
Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) to trial selling ambient groceries in the
country.
Sainsbury will sell products that have a long shelf like like
tea, coffee, granola, biscuits and long-life milk through Alibaba's
Tmall site, said a spokeswoman. It won't sell fresh food.
The trial comes as the Institute of Grocery Distribution has
forecast that online grocery sales in China will triple in size
between now and 2020, while overall grocery sales will rise from
$1.12 trillion to $1.49 trillion during this period.
Nearly half of Chinese consumers are already buying groceries
online, compared with just a quarter of global consumers, according
to a Nielsen survey of 30,000 consumers.
China is a notoriously tough market for Western retailers to
crack, with companies like Best Buy Co. (BBY), Metro AG (MEO.XE)
and Revlon Inc. (REV) exiting the country, while Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. has scaled back its ambitions there.
Sainsbury's arch-rival, Tesco PLC (TESO), in 2013 was forced to
strike a joint venture for its China business, partnering with
China Resources Enterprise Ltd.'s Vanguard unit, saying it hoped to
benefit from CRE's understanding of Chinese consumers and
infrastructure there. Marks & Spencer Group PLC (MKS.LN)
earlier this year reshuffled its footprint in China and said it was
evaluating potential local partners in the region.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2015 12:13 ET (16:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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