Taobao opens 1st SE Asian store in Funan mall

[Jman888]

Quote

 

E-commerce giant Taobao opens first South-east Asian store in Funan mall
By Janice Lim  Published 4 SEPTEMBER, 2019

 

SINGAPORE — One of the world’s largest e-commerce websites, Taobao, which has played a key role in disrupting the retail scene, has opened its own brick-and-mortar store in Singapore.

Owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba, Taobao launched its first physical store in South-east Asia on Wednesday (Sept 4) at the recently opened Funan mall, in collaboration with Virmall, its authorised local partner.

At 6,000 sqf — one-tenth the area of a football field — the Taobao store displays about 300 items "specially curated for Singapore shoppers", the firm said in a press release.

Close to 80 per cent of the products on sale at the store are home furnishings, household items and kitchenware.

Customers can use virtual reality equipment at the Taobao store to get a better sense of how various products would look in their home. Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY

In an interview with TODAY, Taobao’s business development lead in Singapore, Ms Charlene Zhang, said that the home and living category is its fastest growing segment among Singaporean shoppers online.

Taobao said its own data indicated a 50 per cent jump in the value of home and living products it sold in Singapore in 2018, compared to 2017.

The decision to set up a physical store for the long term came about after two earlier temporary pop-up stores in Singapore received positive feedback from customers, who said that they “enjoyed the experience" of being able to “see and touch” the items, said Ms Zhang.

PRICING

When asked how the prices of the items sold at the physical store compared with those online, Ms Zhang and Virmall’s general manager Mr Sky Chen did not give a direct answer, except to say that the pricing is “competitive”.

Based on TODAY’s checks, the items on the Taobao website are generally cheaper than those in the Funan store.

A pair of dishwashing gloves is selling for between S$3.90 and S$7 online while the store is selling them for S$7.90. A make-up storage unit is selling for S$22.90 online but the one in the store is going for S$28.90.

A rocking chair online is priced at S$229.70, while the same item in the store is at S$333.

WHAT CUSTOMERS CAN EXPECT

While customers can buy and pick up some of the smaller items on site, bigger items, such as a sofa or a bed frame, can be purchased only online and delivered.

Items stocked in a local warehouse can be delivered between one and five days after purchase, said Mr Chen, compared to two weeks if it is being shipped from China.

Customers who buy Taobao items online can also collect their orders from the Taobao store.

Given that “new products appear on Taobao every day”, Mr Chen said there are also plans to regularly change and update the items being sold at the store, though that will depend on feedback on the ground and data they have collected on offline customers’ preferences.

Customers can also submit the floor plans of their home to a software programme available at the store, where an interactive digital mock-up will be generated. They can then pick various Taobao furniture pieces, place them in the mock-up and visualise how their space would look.

Virtual reality equipment is also available for customers to get a better sense of how their space would look with various products.

 

 

[Watwheels]

I saw a lot of furniture while I was there. Is it really cheap? Just asking cos I never buy from taobao.

[Jman888]

3 minutes ago, Watwheels said:

I saw a lot of furniture while I was there. Is it really cheap? Just asking cos I never buy from taobao.

maybe their data show singapore bought a lot of furniture from them, hence focus on bringing in the furniture than electronic goods (mostly pirated anyway ).

[Watwheels]

8 minutes ago, Jman888 said:

maybe their data show singapore bought a lot of furniture from them, hence focus on bringing in the furniture than electronic goods (mostly pirated anyway ).

Furniture and some electronics goods(eg. projectors) are big ticket items and need to pay gst and import tax. Hence I'm thinking how cheap can it get?

Edited September 5, 2019 by Watwheels

[Lala81]

15 minutes ago, Watwheels said:

Furniture and some electronics goods(eg. projectors) are big ticket items and need to pay gst and import tax. Hence I'm thinking how cheap can it get?

Furniture needs sea shipping, so yes, GST already imposed by forwarder. I don't really find it that cheap. Especially since many online retailers in Singapore do the same thing. Bring stuff in from china in bulk and sell stuff here.

 

[Tianmo]

No open shop big big here (read big investment)  Ma Yun how to officially run here for cover after he step down.  

By the time he fully withdraw from alibaba,  already SG citizen liao. 

Army never teach you all to throw smoke grenade to the left,  and then attack from the right meh? 

SG also got many hdb shops one day I think their turn over is less than $100 one,  but 10 yrs still there. 

Same same you know. 

[Sdf4786k]

22 hours ago, Watwheels said:

Furniture and some electronics goods(eg. projectors) are big ticket items and need to pay gst and import tax. Hence I'm thinking how cheap can it get?

large item has to deal with weight and size for freight so, the delivery could be larger than the price of the goods. Think in the direction of high end mooncakes and you will know what i mean. 

The packaging is more expensive than the moon cake.