Alibaba and Kroger in Partnership Talks

With the recent announcements of Amazon acquiring grocery giant Whole Foods, grocery companies are scrambling to find partners to compete.

In some published reports around the web, grocery company Kroger is in preliminary partnership talks with tech company Alibaba Group. According to the NY Post, sources cited that they had visited China last month to explore the potential partnership.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a Jan. 13 press release the two companies have already “teamed up to speed up the integration of online and offline sales”.[1]

Kroeger has been busy in the rumor mill in recent weeks, with other possible partnerships and purchase of online retailers Overstock.com and Boxed.com. John Meyer, a portfolio manager at Meyer Capital Management, commented on the speculation. “As CEO Rodney McMullen likes to say, ‘If there’s a potential deal out there, chances are Kroger has looked at it. They’re looking at everything.”

To keep up with retailers like Amazon and Walmart, Kroger, could direct their customers to the Alibaba site to buy general merchandise. The partnership makes sense for both parties and has the potential to make all-around companies like Amazon scramble.

[1]

http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/policyreleasing/201801/20180102700360.shtml