Bianlifeng (便利蜂), the operator of Chinese staff-less stores and smart vending machines, released a notice to its employees yesterday announcing that they will start pulling out vending machines from 38 cities in China an unnamed employee told Pingtu360. Except for the eight selected cities that they are currently testing the unmanned shelves in and the three […]
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14: Policies that most impacted Chinese internet and the rise of unmanned stores
This week we talk about most impactful internet policies of 2017 and the growing unmanned vertical Links Rita Liao: The 4 policies that most affected China’s internet in 2017 Emma Lee: Top 10 Chinese unmanned stores in 2017 Podcast information iTunes RSS feed Music: “Taking the Day Off” by Lee Rosevere, Hold Music Download this episode
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Chengdu’s first unmanned supermarket closes down after 4 months
Chengdu’s first unmanned supermarket GOGO无人超市 has reportedly shut down after only four months according to local reports (in Chinese). The unmanned shelf project, GOGO小超, run by the same Chengdu-based startup, Xiao Mang Guo Technology Limited, closed down months ago. At least 30 employees have not been paid on time; one former employee told the Chengdu […]
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China’s answer to Amazon Go aims to conquer the unmanned frontier with facial recognition
Long-waited Amazon Go opened its door to the public in Seattle last week and there has been overall positive feedback. However, unmanned stores are definitely not a new concept for China’s tech-savvy consumers. Since May 2017, when Alibaba launched its first unmanned store with the focus word “new retail”, a flurry of Chinese tech companies has […]
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Tencent shows off their vision for the future of unmanned retail
As “new retail” changes from jargon to oft-used phrase, Tencent has thrown their hat into the ring. However, they don’t plan on opening their own stores (the WeChat pop-up seems to have been exactly that). Rather they want to be the foundation to help the retail industry achieve two goals: the digital upgrade of stores and […]
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4 take aways from 34 new Chinese unicorns in 2017: IT Juzi report
A “unicorn” refers to those companies less than 10 years old and valued at $1 billion or more. There were 34 Chinese new unicorn companies in 2017 that match these conditions, according to a new report released by Chinese startup database IT Juzi (IT桔子). In the first half of 2017, rental economy startups gained prominence […]
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What does Alibaba’s takeover of Ele.me mean? This is what China is saying
This week has been brimming with rumors on Alibaba’s takeover of food delivery platform Ele.me. Media reports stated that Alibaba plans to purchase food delivery platform Ele.me for US$9.5 billion. Both Alibaba and Ele.me have declined to comment on the rumors but we know one thing: something is definitely cooking between the pair. Beijing Hualian […]
