Chinese supermarket operators tap online consumers, data to boost bricks-and-mortar stores

If you hesitate over digitalisation, you will be eliminated, supermarket operator tells Hangzhou forum. — SCMP

Chinese supermarket operators are increasingly using digital channels and data to boost their business.

“Our offline stores have been hit badly by online platforms, with shrinking foot traffic and plunging sales,” Peter Huang Ming-Tuan, chairman of RT-Mart China, a supermarket operator, told the 2019 Consumer Goods Forum, held in Hangzhou on Tuesday. If we stayed the same, it would lead to our demise, he added, while going online amounted to playing with fire.