Alibaba's Freshippo opens premier store in Shanghai

Freshippo, the grocery and fresh goods retail chain under Alibaba Group, will open its first premier store on Wednesday in Shanghai, making its foray into the nation's high-end super market sector.

Located in Shanghai's Changning district, the store takes up more than 6,000 square meters and offers a mixture of global and local products.

"The goods are tailored for Chinese people. About half of the products are imported to enrich customers' needs, and there are also a good number of specialized products specifically developed for Chinese people's taste," said Hu Liang, chief designer of the Freshippo Premier store during an interview on Tuesday.

"We hope the new store to improve our offline service capability and standard, which will allow us to duplicate the experience of Freshippo and enhance the overall offline service quality of Freshippo," according to Ge Dongsheng, general manager of Shanghai regional operations with Freshippo.

The retail chain has started a rapid nationwide expansion by opening one new store everyday since the beginning of September, with its total store amount expected to surpass 350.