Freshippo, the grocery subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its largest wholly-automatic supply chain center in Shanghai on Monday, according to Alibaba-owned news portal Alizila. Located in Pudong district, the newly operational facility boasts features such as cold chain fresh processing, semi-finished frozen storage, a centralized kitchen, and state-of-the-art logistics automation systems. Spanning nearly 1 million square feet, the center will provide support to over 100 Freshippo stores located in eastern China, from Hangzhou to Hefei. “The center marks the upgrade of Freshippo’s new retail supply chain, which will be driven by data to promote the full automation of Freshippo’s warehouse operations and management,” said Hao Jingbin, director of the grocery unit’s supply chain center. Freshippo is actively preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong within the next year. As part of its growth strategy, the company is rapidly expanding its physical store footprint across China in anticipation of the public listing. [Alizila]