Starbucks teams up with Eleme

Having opened two of its largest stores in the world on the Chinese mainland within the past year, Starbucks said on Thursday it is partnering with Alibaba-backed food delivery platform Eleme to allow millions of Chinese customers to enjoy "coffee culture" outside of its retail spaces.

As a part of an exclusive partnership with e-commerce giant Alibaba, the delivery service will be launched in September in Shanghai and Beijing, and then expanded to the coffee chain's over 2,000 outlets in 30 cities across China.

A dedicated delivery team will be formed by Eleme to provide the services, which will send the coffee to customers within 30 minutes of the order being placed. Starbucks and Alibaba's offline retailer, Hema Xiansheng, are also building joint kitchens, where some of the coffee and food will be made and sent from. Other businesses under Alibaba such as Tmall and Alipay will also join the partnership in different ways.