Alibaba To Open Brick-And-Mortar Mall In China

Alibaba is planning to build a physical shopping center at its Hangzhou, China headquarters, according to MarketWatch. The five-story brick-and-mortar mall, dubbed “More Mall,” is being built on a 40,000-square-meter plot of land and will open in April, according to the article, which cites a local report from linkshop.com. The mall isn’t Alibaba’s first foray into brick and mortar, which still supplies the bulk of retail sales in China (e-commerce provides 15% of retail sales in China, compared to 8.5% in the U.S.). The Chinese e-commerce giant has already partnered with physical InTime department stores, electronics retailer Suning and offline giant Bailian in China and for the past two years has developed a series of Hema grocery stores in a few cities there. Read more at Retail Dive.