Internet giants fight for slice of retail

Both Alibaba and Tencent are doubling down on the retail sector, albeit through different approaches.

As the government has reiterated the importance of using internet technologies to better empower the real economy, the pair are hoping to leverage their strength in big data and cloud computing to reinvent old-school retailing.

Alibaba stepped up its efforts by acquiring major supermarket chains, from Sun Art Retail Group Ltd to Intime Retail Group Co, to fill the blank in the physical retail puzzle.