Alibaba Is Bringing Luxury, Fast, to China’s Middle Class

On a cold day in April, a group of New Zealand fishermen set out to harvest 50,000 large oysters from the waters of the South Pacific.

Once collected, the briny mollusks were transported to processing facilities, packaged four to a container, sealed in chilled polystyrene containers affixed with bright labeling and put on planes to China.

Over the next three days, the oysters traveled thousands of miles to 67 cities across the Chinese mainland. There, they were shipped — still alive — by an army of deliverymen to the homes of thousands of shoppers who had ordered them using Tmall, a website operated by Alibaba, the sprawling Internet empire on the verge of an initial public offering that will most likely value it at about $160 billion.

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David Gelles, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/UktEorf7zF8/