How an Army of Postmen is Turning China's Rural Stores into the World's Largest Retail Network

A billionaire investor, a data-crunching genius and thousands of local postmen... How China's small-town stores are undergoing a tech revolution.
 
Samson Yeung won't relent in connecting China's village stores until he's reached saturation. "A million stores would be a very good number to dominate the market," he says. As Ule's chief operating officer, Yeung is moving fast to build the world's most ambitious real-time retail-data network. 
 
"Being on the network makes each store a virtual Walmart: They can sell what they like, even if it's not in the shop, to turn themselves into internet businesses. Plus we're capturing every transaction that's made in the store, to help the shop owner. We know who they're selling to, at what time of day and in what weather. We work with owners to decide where to shelve products for maximum impact."
 
Read more in an article from Wired.