The current state of online supermarkets in China

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As a measure against COVID-19, China imposed a strict stay-at-home order. The stay-at-home order was so strict that even leaving the apartment complex was prohibited.
In China, EC, or online supermarkets, were used to purchase food and daily necessities. Since
the mid-2010s, online supermarkets in China have been developed mainly by companies such as Alibaba and Tencent, as well as emerging companies, due to the emergence of IT platforms and the spread of cashless payments online.
There are several major online supermarket services in China, including Hema Fresh, Super Seed, Meituan Buy Cai, Daily Youxian, Dinggou Buy Cai, Pupu Supermarket, and Yonghui Supermarket.
Here, we will focus on Hema Fresh (Farmashionsheng) and Super Seed (Chaojiwuzhong).

■Hema Fresh (Farmation Shen)
Hema Fresh, a fresh produce supermarket under Alibaba, began operations in 2016, and by 2020 had 230 stores across China. Amazingly, delivery is free within a 30-minute radius. Hema
Fresh is a physical store (fresh produce supermarket), but also combines logistics warehouse functions, has excellent delivery capabilities, and is attracting attention as a next-generation OMO (Online croatia whatsapp data Merges with Offline) store that works in conjunction with EC. A lane has been
installed on the ceiling of the store along which picked-up products can move, and once picked up, the product is transported to the back yard for delivery.

■ Super Species (Chao Ji Wuzhong)
"Chao Ji Bu Shu", which is funded by Tencent, began operations in 2017 and has 80 stores, but is expanding rapidly. It is a rival to Alibaba's Hema Fresh, but it has the same OMO format of physical stores + logistics warehouses.
Orders for groceries and other items are delivered within a 3km radius in 30 minutes, and the delivery network is characterized by its own delivery using Tencent.
In August 2018, the 44th store, Guangzhou store, opened its first drone delivery store.

summary
During the COVID-19 pandemic, online supermarkets around the world saw an increase in both sales and profits. The drawback
of online supermarkets is that you cannot actually touch the products and check their quality, and so far, their EC growth rate has not been very high.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to start using online supermarkets. When people
actually use online supermarkets, they find that the quality of the products is good, delivery is fast, and the negative factors of the past have disappeared, and the value of online supermarkets as safe and secure has increased.
In order to further popularize online supermarkets after the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be necessary to add convenient functions unique to online supermarkets, such as the ability to suggest food and daily necessities using AI on EC sites, such as seasonal food suggestions and daily menu suggestions, rather than shopping in a store, or to build an online supermarket system that uses AI and robots to handle everything from orders to the supply chain, like the UK's Ocado.