Alibaba’s grocery chain Freshippo withdrew its group buying business from Hangzhou and Nanjing on Oct.10, leaving Shanghai as the only city to operate the business for now. The firm’s group-buy unit was considered the most important strategy for Freshippo when it launched in 2021. In April, the grocer exited from Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu and Wuhan amid excessive operating costs and continuous loss-making status. Chinese media outlet Jiemian reported that the business is mainly relying on self-operated stores, which add a lot of invisible costs to the company. [Jiemian, in Chinese]