Mobike to rebrand as Meituan Bike, fully integrate into Meituan’s app
Chinese bike-rental company Mobike will rebrand as Meituan Bike as it abandons its standalone app to be included in internet giant Meituan's platform as an in-app feature.
The Chinese bike-rental firm will also become a distinct business group within the lifestyle services company. Wang Huiwen, Meituan’s senior vice president and co-founder, made the announcement in an internal memo to employees…
For food delivery, machines won’t replace humans any time soon
Image credit: Meituan
Robots won't replace the millions of delivery workers who crisscross Chinese cities every day, carrying food and groceries to consumers in all sorts of weather. Instead, humans and machines will collaborate, making sure tasty meals make it to hungry mouths in a timely manner.
At least this is the kind of scenario that China’s food review and delivery giant Meituan Dianping…
China to build 150 advanced logistics hubs by 2025
China is planning to build 30 logistics hubs by 2020 and 150 by 2025, according to a new plan jointly released by the country's top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Ministry of Transport.
According to the plan, China is to build six types of logistics hubs—inland harbor, cargo port, airport, service-oriented port, commerce and…
Alibaba looks to Beijing’s OTC market for emerging retail opportunities
In the space of one month, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and its related affiliates, have invested more than RMB 3 billion ($432.1 million) in two emerging new retail players.
On November 19, Shanghai Yunxin, the company wholly owned by Ant Financial, said it would invest RMB 1.2 billion in vending machine solution provider UBox.
On October 17, Alibaba agreed to invest RMB 2 billion in…
Briefing: Ping An Good Doctor to roll out hundreds of thousands of AI-powered mini clinics in China
Ping An Good Doctor blazes trail in developing unstaffed, AI-assisted clinics in China - SCMP
What happened: Ping An Good Doctor, a leading online health care service provider in China, plans to build hundreds of thousands of unstaffed clinics across the country over the next three years. Each AI-powered clinic, which is said to be about the size of a telephone booth, is capable of…
Cainiao delivers the first 100 million Singles’ Day parcels in 2.6 days
(Image Credit: Alibaba)
Although the curtain has dropped on the Singles’ Day shopping festival, for courier services and delivery workers in China, the real madness has just started.
To meet the surge of demand during annual shopping frenzy, e-commerce and logistics companies have cranked up parcel delivery efficiency and capacity.
Alibaba’s logistics affiliate Cainiao today announced that the…
Don’t miss Huami, HTC’s VR and blockchain phone, and Seeed Studio at TechCrunch Shenzhen’s Main Stage
Technological breakthroughs have no doubt nurtured new opportunities for development. In recent years, we saw the integration of hardware, the internet, and cloud computing bring about phenomenal advances in the form of wearable devices, smart cities, smart transportation, unmanned systems, and much more. In the upcoming TechCrunch 2018 International Innovation Summit in Shenzhen, innovative…
Lenovo catching up new retail trend with launch of a cashier-less store
Image credit: Lenovo
Lenovo has launched its first-ever AI-powered cashier-less store, the Lecoo Unmanned Store, in Beijing after four months of pilot operation, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting.
After a quick registration through WeChat, users can enter the store through facial recognition. No smartphone operations will be needed at the cashier because the charges will be deducted…
JD.com logs RMB 6 billion in sales within the first hour of Singles’ Day campaign
The world’s biggest annual online shopping festival Singles’ Day is just around the corner. JD.com, the second biggest e-commerce company in China, kicked off the Flash Deals campaign yesterday as a run-up to the actual festival that takes place every year on November.
According to figures provided by JD.com (in Chinese), its shopping platforms logged a record RMB 6 billion in sales within the…
Alibaba launches China’s biggest robotic warehouse ahead of Singles Day
Image credit: Alibaba
E-commerce giant Alibaba is preparing for the rush of the upcoming Singles Day, which falls on November 11, by opening what is said to be the country's biggest robotic warehouse.
On October 25, Alibaba's logistics affiliate Cainiao Network opened the warehouse, which is located in Wuxi, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. The facility will help cope with increasing…