Cincinnati-based grocer Kroger Co. opens its second-largest store at 7 a.m. Sept. 14 at 9005 U.S. 42 in Union. Wochit
To combat Amazon's aggressive expansion into groceries, Kroger is exploring an alliance with China's online commerce juggernaut Alibaba, according to several media reports.
Senior Kroger executives met with senior Alibaba officials last month in China, the New York Post and Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.
While details of a potential partnership were not revealed, an arrangement of some type was disclosed by of all sources, China's Ministry of Commerce.
“Alibaba has teamed up with Kroger … to speed up the integration of online and offline sales,” the Chinese agency said in a statement on Jan. 13.
Amazon has made headlines this week with the unveiling of a new Seattle store, Amazon Go, a store with no cashiers or checkout lines. But Alibaba already operates similar stores in China.
With 2,800 stores across the U.S., Kroger could provide Alibaba a massive American platform to compete against Amazon. The Cincinnati-based grocer is the U.S.'s largest supermarket chain.
More: Reports: Kroger may acquire digital bulk retailer Boxed
If a pact were agreed to, Alibaba's Alipay could enable Kroger shoppers to skip grocery lines and pay for food with an app. Kroger, meanwhile, could direct some business to Alibaba's site for general merchandise, sources told the paper.
Speculation of possible Kroger acquisitions or partnerships are in overdrive this month with news outlets suggesting the grocer was eyeing potential takeovers of digital wholesaler Boxed as well as online retailer Overstock.com. The common thread to all these reports besides unnamed sources and Kroger silence was avenues for the retailer to beef up its digital abilities.
Supermarkets and big-box retailers are scrambling to ramp up their e-commerce and delivery abilities after digital juggernaut Amazon acquired Whole Foods last year. The deal threatened to further dilute an already saturated market by a deep-pocketed competitor who would use lower-priced food to drive customer traffic.