Funan Mall has just gained another tech company tenant – this time, in the form of Alibaba’s ecommerce platform, Taobao.
Taobao, alongside local business partner Virmall, has opened its first Taobao Store in Southeast Asia in Funan Mall.
The 6,000 sq ft outlet’s (around the size of six 4-room BTO flats) launch “follows the success of a Taobao Home pop-up and an extended showcase at multi-label concept store NomadX last year”.
Said Charlene Zhang, Business Development Lead, Singapore, Taobao: “The store will bring to life our vision of seamless integration between online and offline commerce, and we look forward to welcoming shoppers to experience what we believe retail will look like in the future.”
Added Chris Chong, Managing Director, Retail, CapitaLand Singapore: “We are confident that Taobao’s new concept will complement and enhance the line-up of experiential and tech-enabled retail concepts in Funan to engage and inspire the modern consumer.”
There will be around 300 Taobao items displayed in the store, with roughly 80% of the items coming from the home and living category, which is said to be the fastest growing product category in Singapore on Taobao.
Staying true to its tech roots, purchasing products at the Taobao store is done via QR codes, and customers will have the option to select colours, designs, and sizes and even make payment via the Taobao app.
While certain items can be picked up from the store directly, larger furniture pieces will be sent to customers two to three days after purchase.
Shoppers will also be able to pick up their online orders from the Taobao Store.
“The products we have here are just a small peek into the millions of products available on Taobao. We want to ensure the store is an attractive destination for shoppers, and will work with Taobao closely to continuously refresh our space with trending items for consumers to interact with in person,” said Sky Chen, General Manager, Virmall.
The Taobao Store will also include a VR service so that shoppers will be able to visualise a particular piece of furniture in their own rooms, generated based on actual measurements of a room or even the entire house.
