Articles by 超市老万

Alibaba and Wahaha Enter the Fray: Is the Unmanned Convenience Store Really the Next Big Thing?

In the past half month, after two bike-sharing companies exited, shared power banks have also quieted down. Before we could lament the fading of the trend, unmanned convenience stores arrived. On June 25, beverage giant Wahaha signed a "3 years 100,000 units, 10 years 1 million units" Take Go unmanned store agreement with Shenlan Technology, which develops unmanned retail technology. Subsequently, dairy giant Yili also planned to promote unmanned convenience micro-stores in over 2,000 communities in cooperation with Shenlan Technology. On June 28, Sinovation Ventures announced the completion of a 30 million yuan A+ round of financing for F5 Future Store, a 24-hour unmanned convenience store built on self-developed robotic arms and backend management systems. On July 1, another unmanned convenience store company, BingoBox, announced the completion of its A round of financing, exceeding 100 million yuan. Previously, Alibaba also claimed it would launch its unmanned supermarket "Tao Coffee" at the second Taobao Maker Festival in early July.