Last week, Alibaba announced that Hou Yi, the founder of the Hema (or 'Freshippo') retail chain, will retire as CEO, to be replaced by CFO Yan Xiaolei. What does this mean for Hema?

 

Hema, positioned as premium retail, reflected Alibaba's anticipation that consumers would become more affluent and upgrade their consumption habits. However, Alibaba is now pivoting back to its core focus on Taobao and its users as it undergoes its biggest transformation in history.

 

Amidst this transformation (which prioritises core ecommerce and cloud/AI), the role of Hema and other offline retail stores becomes uncertain. Where do Hema (and Alibaba's other offline retail stores) fit into this overall strategy? And what's next for them?

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