On 28 February, Freshippo announced that it would be closing 3 X membership stores (similar to warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club) in Shanghai on 1 April. This will leave only 5 membership stores in China. 2 of them are in Shanghai, while Beijing, Nanjing and Suzhou each have 1 Freshippo X store.
It was reported that the move is part of the Alibaba-owned supermarket’s strategic shift towards the regular Freshippo stores and its smaller NB (neighbourhood business) stores. This was detailed in CEO Yan Xiaolei’s internal letter on the last day of 2024. As the membership stores were launched to compete directly with warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club and Costco, the shift was widely seen as Freshippo stepping back from direct competition with Sam’s Club.
- #盒马不再对标山姆 Freshippo no longer benchmarks against Sam’s Club: 62.48 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on Hot Search list
- #盒马X会员店仅剩5家 There are only 5 Freshippo X membership stores: 30.34 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on Hot Search list
The recent return of Jack Ma included several visits to Freshippo stores across China. It signals that not only is Freshippo not for sale by Alibaba, but the focus is on changes and ambition.
In 2025, Freshippo will reportedly be concentrating on three points: moving into lower-tier cities and towns with its Freshippo NB label; expanding its own brands into more categories; and globalising its presence and supply chain. As the competition in the retail and FMCG space heats up, it’s certainly worth watching Alibaba and Freshippo’s next step.
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