More on Kroger and Alibaba

More and expert comments on this.   Also notice the assistant augmented Tmall platform, testing for US application?  Large CPG's now getting private label competition from abroad in new markets?

Kroger teams with Alibaba to sell private labels to half-a-billion Chinese consumers
Who doesn’t want to access a billion-plus people who are much further along on the digital adoption journey than the U.S.?

by George Anderson in Retailwire

Kroger is looking to make its first overseas move a big one. America’s largest operator of supermarkets announced yesterday that it will test an online store selling its private label goods in China using Alibaba’s Tmall platform.

The pilot program will initially test sales of Kroger’s Simple Truth natural and organic private label. Last year, sales of Simple Truth products exceeded $2 billion, making it the largest natural and organic brand in the U.S., according to Kroger. Simple Truth is the second largest label in Kroger’s private brands portfolio. .... " 

Kroger Teams with Alibaba in First International Venture

Big news.   Getting Kroger's premium private label into China. Will there bean exchange of technology as well?   See Alibaba's Tmall effort.

Kroger teams with Amazon rival Alibaba to sell groceries in China
By Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer

In a bold move against Amazon, Kroger is teaming with internet giant Alibaba to sell groceries in China.

The move will be the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain's first-ever international venture and focus on selling dietary supplements and private label goods, including natural and organic foods. Kroger characterized the venture as a "pilot" that will showcase its house brands.

"E-commerce enables Kroger to quickly scale to reach new customers and markets where we don't operate physical stores, starting with China," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer. 

Kroger's products will appear on Alibaba's Tmall Global platform, China's largest business-to-consumer marketplace. Launched in 2014, Tmall targets China consumers who want premium products. The platform provides brands and retailers without operations in China to build virtual storefronts and ship products into China.  ... " 

China Infuses the Corner Store with AI

Of interest, a move ahead in China that should be watched.

China's AI-infused corner store of the future  in Axios

China’s take-no-prisoners Big Tech war is playing out in An Huang's little family grocery in Hangzhou, a three-hour drive southwest of Shanghai.

What’s going on: A year ago, Huang and his father had a visit from representatives of Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant. What did they think of transforming their dowdy place into a state-of-the-art, digitalized store, with all the bells and whistles, under Alibaba’s Tmall brand? According to Huang, it took him and his father only about five minutes to agree.

Today, as he stocks up on popular beer and snacks for the World Cup rush, he told Axios that revenue is up 30% in his spruced-up shop, equipped with artificial intelligence-backed apps and even a heat sensor to track foot traffic.

Why it matters: Alibaba says that over the last year, it has redone about 1 million mom and pop shops like the Huangs' across China. It has done the same with about a hundred superstores. Big and small, these outlets buy all their goods through Alibaba's platform and pay using its affiliate Alipay app. ... " 

Cortana Voicebots in China

In Voicebot.

Xiaomi has launched a new Microsoft Cortana powered smart speaker called Yeelight Voice Assistant. 

The Yeelight product line is known in China for smart home products and includes smart lighting that integrates Cortana for voice control. Yeelight Voice Assistant looks identical to an Echo Dot and will start shipping in China in late January. This is not Xiomi’s first smart speaker. The company launched the Xiaomi Mi AI smart speaker in July. That product was priced at just 299 Yuan or about US$45 but did not list Cortana integration.

The price for the Yeelight Voice Assistant is listed as 199 Yuan or just over US$30 at today’s exchange rate. That puts the pricing at about the level that Amazon Echo Dots and Google Home Mini’s were selling during the holiday season, but 40% less than their list price. More important for Xiaomi today is that it is much less than the US$99 cost of the Alibaba Tmall Genie and the US$256 Raven H from Baidu. There is a model of the LingLong DingDong from JD.com that is listed at 199 Yuan so Yeelight will not have the low end of the market entirely to itself. What all of this shows us is that the Chinese smart speaker market has quickly become even more dynamic and competitive than the U.S. market. .... "

Alibaba Builds Echo for China

Apparently only in Mandarin for now.  Continued competition in this space.

Alibaba Challenges Google, Amazon With New Echo-Like Device
By Lulu Yilun Chen  in Bloomberg

Tencent, Baidu also developing their own home assistants

The Tmall Genie will sell for 499 yuan during its trial period

The competition in digital speaker-assistants is getting more intense, as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unfurled an Amazon Echo-like device and fellow Chinese internet giants Tencent and Baidu prepare to develop their own.

Alibaba’s “Tmall Genie X1” will go for 499 yuan ($73) to the first 1,000 people during a one-month trial, coming in below Apple’s $349 HomePod and the roughly $180 Echo. Its biggest competitor, Tencent Holdings Ltd., is developing a voice-activated digital speaker that could hit the market within months, Tencent President Martin Lau said in a May interview. And on Wednesday, Baidu Inc. showed off its own “DuerOS” personal assistant..... 

Powered by the AliGenie system .... " 

More including pictures in BBC.  This also includes a video of the related Baidu Duer system called 'Little Fish'.

Index of my Coverage on Assistants.