Wal-Mart, JD.com co-launch bricks-and-mortar store in Shenzhen

SHENZHEN - Wal-Mart and the Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com have jointly launched a bricks-and-mortar store in Shenzhen as they deepen ties and as JD.com expands into offline sales. The co-branded store, which opened on Sunday, will showcase JD.com’s best-selling items – including electronics and books – and allow customers to interact with the goods in person, Caixin reports.

The new project comes after the American retail giant bought a 5% stake in JD.com in June 2016, increasing this to 12% this February, and launching an flagship store on the e-commerce platform in May.

All of China’s main online marketplace operators, including JD.com’s major rival, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., have now made forays into offline retailing.

After a decade of rapid growth in the online-business industry in China, a new trend of combination online and offline stores has begun to emerge, as consumers discover their e-commerce experience can occasionally be unpleasant due to frequent counterfeit products, delays in courier service and other problems.  www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).