Alibaba has entered the convenience store market to further expand its customer data collection efforts . The company launched a pilot store , Yike EGO , in Shanghai earlier this year and opened a second store in July , with a third later . What it appears to be after most is a treasure trove of detailed data on purchases that is not available from its online shoppers. Google , which has invested over $ 9bn in the retail sector , entered the market primarily to gather valuable data on consumer demand .
Alibaba has entered the convenience store market to further expand its customer data collection efforts . The company launched a pilot store , Yike EGO , in Shanghai earlier this year and opened a second store in July , with a third later . Google , which has invested over $ 9bn in the retail sector , entered the market primarily to gather valuable data on consumer demand .