Alibaba tests staffless ‘smart store’ – China’s latest business and technology news

Caixin reports that ecommerce giant Alibaba opened an experimental convenience store equipped with big data and facial recognition technology for a five-day pop-up event in Hangzhou over the weekend. Customers scan a QR code using the Taobao app upon entering the store and can then pick items they like. To pay, they walk through a checkout door that automatically deducts the funds from their Taobao or Alipay account.

The concept of a staffless convenience store is not novel: 

• In December 2016, Amazon opened its first staffless smart store called Amazon Go in the company’s headquarters in Seattle. The store is only open to Amazon employees now but is expected to open to the public sometime in 2017.
• French supermarket operator Auchan opened its first staffless BingoBox store in Shanghai in May.
• Chinese snack maker Wahaha launched five such stores in Hangzhou in June.
• A company called F5 Future Store tested a robot-operated shop in Guangzhou, and received 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) in funding to expand with “30 to 50 stores in up to six months,” Caixin noted on June 28.

• Ecommerce
  Stripe partners with Alipay and WeChat to access customers in China / Bloomberg
  In China, shoppers buy bad loans online with their groceries / Bloomberg
  Chinese internet giant Tencent launches WeChat Pay in Europe to challenge Alibaba’s Alipay / CNBC
• Steel  
  China’s ambition, U.S. retreat on show in Serbian factory town / AP
• Chinese money in America
  China’s $800 billion sovereign wealth fund seeks more U.S. access / NYT (paywall)
  Lawmakers urge SEC to stop Chicago Stock Exchange’s China deal / Reuters
• Real estate
  In China, homeowners anxiously wait for government to give them land rights / The Globe and Mail
• Tourism
  Gloom for retailers as Chinese tourists spend less on shopping / Bloomberg