The Jack Ma and Alibaba foundations have stepped up their support for countries impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19). Sending supplies across Asia During the week beginning 16 March, the foundations said they were preparing a joint donation of 2m masks, 150,000 test kits, 20,000 sets of protective gear and 20,000 face shields to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. The founda...

Ant Financial Services, an affiliate of Alibaba, will start allowing third-party vendors to offer services that extend beyond financial on Alipay, e.g. food delivery, retail and healthcare. Transforming 40m service providers Alipay is opening up its platform to support the digital transformation of 40m service providers over the next three years across China. This will enable them to open m...

Since launching in 2016, new-retail inspired Freshippo has expanded to about 200 stores covering more than 20 cities. Adapting to local needs Alibaba has been refining its Freshippo store concept and now operates seven different store formats. These target different shopper missions: Freshippo (formerly Hema Fresh) blends online, offline and big data to transform the grocery shoppin...