The Alibaba Group (BABA), China’s e-commerce giant, is taking self-service to another level, gearing up to create a so-called smart Gas Station that hires robots.

This is not the company’s first venture into gas stations in China, where the market is dominated by China National Petroleum Corp. (the PetroChina brand) & China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec). Two years ago, Alibaba inked a deal with Sinopec to launch an online industrial supply system, & its Alipay digital payment service is used in thousands of gas stations around the country, reported Caixin.

The push to open an unattended gas station comes as China’s largest online retailer is trying to move ahead with its strategy to bond the physical world of offline retail with the online world. The business tactic draws customers into the physical offline premises through online transactions & depends on big data to make that possible. Take its Hema stores: Visitors can scrutinize a slew of barcoded items. When scanned with a mobile phone, users get info about the products & recommendations for other items that are alike. The barcodes work with AliPay, which can then be used as the payment means at checkout. The stores as well acts as hubs to pick up items that were paid for online. The Hema application allow users search & pay for items from the closest store, keep tabs on their purchase history, make recommendations &, thanks to its use of large data, allows customized product pages for its users.

But the Chinese mega-retailer is not stopping at food, convenience items or gas. Alibaba is as well working on a 5-story shopping mall dubbed More Mall, which will be situated at the company’s headquarters & will include virtual fitting rooms & technology-laden makeup testing mirrors among other conveniences. It’ll also display brands that can be bought on Taobao, the e-commerce site owned by Alibaba, & will likewise be home to a flagship Hema supermarket.