Platform Business Groups and the Omni-Channel Transformation of Food Retailing in China

Abstract

In the past decade, China's food retail market has undergone significant restructuring driven by platform firms, enhancing omni-channel capabilities across the sector, and bolstering the resilience of domestic retailers. These shifts have contributed to the exit of numerous international food retailers. Despite this transformation, there remains a lack of understanding regarding the economic geography of China's food retail market, especially in terms of digital platform operations. This paper aims to conceptualise two major Platform Business Groups (PBGs), Alibaba Group and Tencent-JD.com Alliance, and investigate their respective roles in the omni-channel transformation of Chinese food retailing. Drawing on forty semi-structured interviews and diverse quantitative and qualitative sources, the study conceptualises two distinct PBG models shaping the market: Alibaba's ‘Integrated PBG’ and the Tencent-JD.com Alliance's ‘Cooperative PBG’. The research explores how the two groups utilise online analytics directly through foodstore subsidiaries and indirectly by providing omni-channel digital services to third-party food retailers.