Update | Tencent may invest in Carrefour China as internet giants extend retail war
Tencent may invest in Carrefour’s China unit with Yonghui as the French retailer attempts to stem a decline in sales.
Tencent Holdings, China’s biggest internet company, may jointly invest in French retail giant Carrefour’s struggling Chinese operations with supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores, as part of a broader strategic partnership to boost the bricks-and-mortar business through the use of data analysis and mobile payments.
“The potential investment will leverage Carrefour’s global retail knowledge with Tencent’s technological excellence and Yonghui’s operational know-how and in particular its deep knowledge of fresh products.” Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based retailer Carrefour said in a release, without saying how much the investment will be.
Carrefour has also agreed to explore a partnership with Tencent in which the Shenzhen-based company will lend its digital expertise, according to the statement. Carrefour will remain the largest shareholder of the China unit, it said.
Tencent said it looked forward to “cooperating with Carrefour in further enriching retail and services experience” for its users and enhancing Carrefour’s services with Tencent’s technological capabilities such as mobile payment, digital membership programs, customer acquisition and cloud services.
China’s internet giants have been trying to find new growth engines for their business by either partnering up with established offline retailers or rolling out their own bricks-and-mortar chains, including unstaffed stores. Tencent’s foray into retail follows an expansion by Alibaba Group and JD.com into physical shopping in what is dubbed “New Retail”, in which online functions such as payments, delivery and logistics management are integrated with shopping at the high street store.