Dive Brief:

• Chinese web retail giant Alibaba Group Holding announced Monday it would buy up to 25% of Chinese department store Intime Retail Company.

• Online retail is only 10% of retail sales in China, but its growth is an indication that brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce will increasingly be integrated, the company noted.

• Alibaba's annual sales surpass those of eBay and Amazon combined, and the company recently announced it would conduct its planned IPO in the U.S. The e-commerce giant has been expanding in the U.S. and elsewhere ahead of its IPO.

Dive Insight:

Amazon has experimented with pop-ups in the past, but this move by Alibaba is more akin to Amazon taking a significant stake in a large department store like Target or Macy’s. It’s an unusual move, but probably a wise one. Alibaba is betting that as e-commerce grows, it will require a physical presence (and vice versa) to fully reach consumers and deliver on those omni-channel promises everyone is talking about.