Alibaba is the world’s largest online marketplace. But the company’s founder Jack Ma, no longer content with dominating e-commerce, has been making efforts to bolster the physical presence of his company.
That effort took a step forward this week when Alibaba unveiled a HK$19.8 billion $2.6 billion bid for Hong Kong-listed shopping mall operator Intime Retail Group.
Alibaba is following the path of US e-commerce giant Amazon, which announced plans to open 100 pop-up stores by the end of this year in an attempt to reverse the once online-only business model. Amazon believes these stores will offer a physical browsing experience to customers...
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