CapitaLand to manage Alibaba's Shanghai HQ, launch mall on Lazada

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Real estate developer CapitaLand Ltd on Wednesday said it had signed agreements to manage e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Shanghai headquarters and to launch an online mall on Lazada Singapore's platform.

The deals by CapitaLand, among Asia's largest shopping mall landlords, highlight how companies are trying to link online content with offline services. Alibaba, which has been seeking to grow its brick-and-mortar presence, controls Southeast Asian online retailer and marketplace Lazada.

"The key to unlocking the next stage of growth lies in blending physical and digital channels to create a seamless online and offline (O&O) experience that is sought after by consumers," CapitaLand CEO Lim Ming Yan said in a statement.

"Neither an offline-only nor online-only business model will work; it is in the combination of O&O where long-term success can be found," the CEO added.

Under the contract with Alibaba, CapitaLand will oversee the pre-opening and management of the shopping podium, slated to open next year, and one of the four office towers in Alibaba Shanghai Center.

CapitaLand also said it would launch on Lazada's platform a store that would aggregate the offerings of retailers in its Singapore malls by the end of this year.

Options to click-and-collect purchases will draw shoppers to CapitaLand's malls and reduce last-mile delivery costs for retailers in the long run, it said.

The "last mile" portion of delivery refers to the final and usually most expensive stretch of a package's journey from a retailer's warehouse to a customer's front door.