Jack Ma explained New Retail as the concept of moving not just Alibaba, but all retail beyond the tired delineations of digital vs. physical. “The big prize for Alibaba in New Retail is modernizing the ‘other 80%’ of retail sales not yet online. This means redefining the entire process of conventional retail workflow. We think this business will ultimately be as high a margin, or better than the existing marketplace model,” said Aaron Kessler, a Raymond James analyst. Analysts believed that the idea was developed mainly to utilize the ‘infrastructure’ (including platform, instant e-payment, logistics, and most importantly, the data) which Alibaba had built over the years to enable, penetrate, and reform what was left out from the e-commerce world, with the aim of providing a shopping experience containing the best of both online and offline. Industry observers opined that New Retail was different from an omni-channel because while the latter was generally provided by brands/retailers, New Retail would be provided by a platform (of Alibaba) functioning as business infrastructure serving not only the consumer, but also the merchants and brands...

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LEADING CHANGE IN CHINA’S RETAIL SECTOR

Analysts believed that understanding Alibaba’s role as a marketplace operator was crucial in understanding why the retail sector was changing faster in China than anywhere else. They were of the opinion that Alibaba had been working hard for nearly 19 years to build the backbone of China’s giant e-commerce machine, fundamentally creating a supportive environment for brands along with an engaging and frictionless purchase process for the customers. ..

LOOKING AHEAD

Analysts opined that China would continue to experience a constant double-digit growth, resulting from current digital buyers, increase in m-commerce sales, and coverage of new market segments. They also believed that all this would benefit retailers like Alibaba, Tencent , and JD.com by triggering a quantum increase in the volume of users, data, and transactions on their platforms...

EXHIBITS

Exhibit I: Alibaba’s Major Businesses at a Glance
Exhibit II: Alibaba’s Financial Performance from 2015-2018 (in CNY )
Exhibit III: Alibaba’s Singles Day Revenue From 2009-2018 (In millions of USD)
Exhibit IV: Value Chain Share Breakdown for Chinese Tech Players, 2017 (%)
Exhibit V: Key Elements of the New Retail System in China