Alibaba follows Amazon’s lead with bricks-and-mortar push

(Reuters) — In a small village shop near the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, store owner Lu Qiwei uses his smartphone to place orders to refill stocks of instant noodles, rice and drinks.
Lu, 61, says he didn’t own a phone two years ago, but he’s now one of 600,000 people using a supply chain app made by e-commerce giant Alibaba, aimed at drawing millions of Chinese mom-and-pop stores into its orbit.
The app is one part of a multi-billion dollar drive by Alibaba to extend its