Alibaba in new supermarket tie-up

Alibaba is teaming up with Shanghai Bailian Group, one of China’s largest supermarket and department store chains, as Jack Ma accelerates an effort to employ technology to shake up old-fashioned retail, Bloomberg reports.  Alibaba’s planning to help upgrade some of Bailian’s 4,700 stores across the country, integrating everything from customer relations to payment and logistics in a manner similar to its tie-ups with other players such as electronics chain Suning Commerce Group. Alibaba has set its sights on using its data and technology to transform the $4 trillion world of domestic brick-and-mortar retail. In its biggest old-economy deal, the company is leading a bid to buy department store chain Intime Retail Group for as much as $2.6 billion. Its billionaire co-founder wants to build a network that will allow stores and brands to monitor transactions as they happen, ridding layers of distributors.