Google and JD.com have unveiled a strategic partnership to develop technology-fuelled tools across stores and the supply chain to create “a superior retail experience”.
The tech giant’s partnership with the Chinese retailer involves a $550m (£415m) investment and subsequent collaboration on a range of strategic initiatives on retail solutions across the USA, south east Asia and Europe.
The partnership will combine JD.com’s expertise in supply chain and logistics with Google’s tech capabilities in order to “explore the next generation of retail infrastructure solutions”.
Read more: Q&A with JD.com founder Richard Liu
The tie-up between the firms will be focused on adding personalisation and efficiency to customers’ shopping journeys, and will also involve a selection of JD.com’s products being made available on Google’s shopping network across multiple regions.
JD.com chief strategy officer Jianwen Liao said: “This partnership with Google opens up a broad range of possibilities to offer a superior retail experience to consumers throughout the world.
“This marks an important step in the process of modernising global retail.”
JD.com, whose other investors include Walmart and WeChat owner Tencent, has lofty ambitions for the future of the retail sector.
Chief executive Richard Liu said earlier this year robots, data and AI would entirely run retail in the future.
The Chinese etail giant has also launched a blockchain accelerator scheme in February.
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