Walmart makes another big move in China

Walmart has made another big e-commerce investment in China.



On the heels of launching three major e-commerce initiatives in China, Walmart will invest $50 million in New Dada — China’s largest local on-demand logistics and grocery online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce platform.



Walmart’s newest investment further extends its agreement with JD.com, which uses New Dada’s network to offer customers two-hour delivery on groceries ordered from Walmart stores through the JD Daojia Dada app.



New Dada, an independent joint venture between Walmart’s Chinese partner JD.com and Dada, has more than 25 million registered customers. Providing local on-demand delivery capabilities with 2.5 million crowd-sourced deliverers across more than 300 cities in China, this new service complements the 426 stores that Walmart operates in nearly 170 cities.



Overall, Walmart’s investment in New Dada will help the retailer target Chinese shoppers with faster delivery times in a popular, fiercely competitive online grocery market, according to a company statement.



“All around the world, we’re creating seamless shopping experiences that bring together our stores, sites and apps to make shopping faster and easier,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. “Our alliance with JD and cooperation with New Dada will enable seamless shopping to millions of customers across China.”



Specifically, the business partners expect the combination of New Dada’s delivery network with Walmart stores to give “consumers convenient access to a wide range of high-quality goods delivered to their homes and offices in record time,” said Philip Kuai, CEO of New Dada. “We look forward to deepening our cooperation with Walmart as China’s O2O retail industry continues to evolve and grow.”



Walmart’s next move is to double the number of its stores that offer two-hour delivery by the end of the year, the statement said.