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Rita Liao · · 2 min readIn brief: Starbucks eyeing coffee delivery with Alibaba amid slowing China growth
Photo credit: Connie Ma.
Food-delivery platform Ele.me to help Starbucks tackle stale growth (China). The US coffee giant has reportedly teamed up with Alibaba-backed Ele.me to get its drinks delivered. The rumor emerges weeks after Luckin, a coffee startup with a massive delivery network, pulled in US$200 million in funding and vowed to take on Starbucks.
In an earnings call in June, Starbucks blamed its China growth slowdown on a drop in third-party delivery orders and said it planned to address this by sealing a deal with a “large tech company.” (South China Morning Post)
Other news
Government plans integrated new law for ecommerce (India). The move is designed to bring all ecommerce activities, from data storage to online payment, under one single piece of legislation. The proposed law will also give regulators access to user data stored in the country for security and public policy purposes. (Reuters)
Alipay follows in WeChat’s footsteps to launch mini apps (China). The feature, which Alibaba’s mobile payment affiliate has been testing for about a year, will reportedly be rolled out this week. Tencent introduced mini apps – which are designed to operate inside an all-encompassing app and allow users to bypass app stores – on its enormously popular WeChat messaging platform last January. (36kr, in Chinese)
Editing by Jack Ellis and Eileen C. Ang
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