E-commerce giant to buy 15% stake in Easyhome

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is taking a fresh step in its quest to revolutionize physical retail by buying a 15 percent stake in leading home furnishing operator Beijing Easyhome Furnishing Chain Store Group Co Ltd.

The move is seen by industry experts as an effort by the company to ramp up its so-called "New Retail" strategy, which optimizes online and offline resources using data analytics, and fend off growing competition from arch-rival Tencent Holdings Ltd that is buying a spree of offline retail assets.

The internet giant said on Sunday it would pay about 5.45 billion yuan ($861 million) for the deal, allowing it to support the digital transformation of Easyhome's 223 stores in 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China.