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Starbucks offers voice ordering via Alibaba's smart speaker in China

U.S. coffee giant Starbucks Corp. is expanding its digital retail partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. with the launch of voice order and delivery via the Chinese e-commerce giant's smart speaker, Tmall Genie.

Starbucks in August 2018 entered a delivery partnership with Alibaba's payment service Alipay, e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, supermarket chain Hema, and food delivery service Ele.me.

Starbucks customers can now order drinks and food by voice command through Tmall Genie and have their orders delivered within 30 minutes through Ele.me. Customers can also track their deliveries in real-time. Tmall Genie is powered by Alibaba's speech artificial intelligence and voiceprint payment technology.

To mark the new service's launch, the companies unveiled an exclusive Starbucks-themed Tmall Genie speaker available through the Starbucks virtual store in China.

Apart from their delivery deal, Alibaba and Starbucks also partnered to launch self-serve kiosks by the Seattle-based coffee company inside select Alibaba-owned Freshippo supermarkets in China. Alibaba's Hema stores also opened its doors to Starbucks Delivery Kitchens. Starbucks and Alibaba also set up a virtual Starbucks store in China using the tech company's centralized online management hub.