Freshippo is an unconventional supermarket. Conveyor belts whisk bags of groceries along the ceiling above shoppers’ heads, facial recognition units scan customers at checkouts, and algorithmically determined prices change dynamically depending on the time of day.
The chain’s 150 stores in China are the flagship of what owner Alibaba calls “new retail” — merging brick and mortar stores with ecommerce, data collection and artificial intelligence. It has promoted the concept as a way to boost low profit margins at conventional supermarkets which are under threat from online shopping.
Retail analysts have been enthusiastic. “The battle between bricks and clicks, waged over 20 years, is over,” said Michael Zakkour, an Asia strategist at consultancy Tompkins International. “And the winner is new retail.”