Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider Chinese tech giant Alibaba is expanding aggressively into physical retail through investments in a variety of product categories to push its "New Retail" strategy of combining online and offline shopping. Its most critical "New Retail" venture has been the futuristic supermarket Hema Xiansheng, which launched in 2015 and offers free deliveries in 30 minutes and facial recognition payment. Deeply integrated with Alibaba's technology and services, Hema provides a window into where Amazon may try to take Whole Foods in the future. We recently visited Hema in Shanghai, China and found the store to be a pleasant, streamlined shopping experience.