Shaky Chinese Hema... Negative Reviews Pour In and Sale Rumors Emerge

Criticism Arises Over Raising Free Shipping Threshold
Reports Also Say State-Owned Enterprise COFCO to Acquire

Hema, a supermarket chain affiliated with China's Alibaba, is embroiled in controversy. At the center of the debate are the increased delivery fee standards and price undercutting against product suppliers, along with rumors that it will be sold to a local state-owned enterprise.

On the 17th, Chinese local media Hongxing Capital reported that Alibaba-affiliated supermarket chains Hema and RT-Mart are scheduled to be sold to the Chinese state-owned enterprise COFCO Corporation. Both Hema and RT-Mart immediately denied the report, calling it "fake news," but market speculation has yet to subside.

Some insiders say that Alibaba has already internally decided to sell Hema and RT-Mart to COFCO, estimating the company values at 20 billion yuan (approximately 3.7 trillion KRW) and 10 billion yuan, respectively. It is said that both parties have reached a basic agreement, and Alibaba's founder Jack Ma has also made the final decision on this matter.

Hema recently raised the free delivery threshold significantly from 39 yuan to 49 yuan, and then again to 99 yuan, while facing criticism for deteriorating service quality and changes in some product assortments. Moreover, it ordered some suppliers to drastically lower supply prices, leading some brands to decide to withdraw.

According to China Business Journal, Wang Xiaolu, famous for chicken feet snacks, announced through an official account at the end of last year that due to Hema's internal strategic adjustments, it was difficult to sell its products at standard prices. As a result, Wang Xiaolu resumed product supply through negotiations with Hema in February, but in the meantime, local SNS platforms such as Xiaohongshu were flooded with criticism from supplier representatives accusing Hema of price undercutting.

At the same time, social networking services (SNS) have reported that Hema's delivery has slowed down and the service of delivery personnel has deteriorated. Amid this, the announcement to close 6 to 7 offline stores in the first half of the year while opening 70 new stores to operate a total of 400 stores further worsened public sentiment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.