Alibaba Grocer Freshippo Turns Employees Into Contractors Amid Cost-Cutting Drive

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s (阿里巴巴集团) supermarket chain is turning regular employees into contractors, scaling back membership benefits and closing some stores as part of its cost-cutting efforts amid falling revenue and a strategic shift toward lower-priced goods.

Starting last year, Freshippo began turning some of its regular staff into full-time contract or gig workers by having them re-sign with third-party service providers. These affected employees are based in cities such as Wuhan, Xi’an and Chengdu.