CHINA. Sunrise Duty Free unveiled its much-anticipated ‘O World’ Virtual Mall at a spectacular gala celebration evening last night in Shanghai.
Over 250 industry representatives, including the retailer’s main brand partners and The Moodie Davitt Report as the sole travel retail media, attended the event.
The e-commerce and product showcase initiative is the culmination of several years’ work, first showcased in October 2014 when Sunrise launched its first e-commerce proposition, Virtual Mall.
Sunrise Duty Free Chairman Fred Kiang told guests: “Two years ago in our initial launching, we promised to work diligently to enhance our system. Today we are ready to announce the enhanced version of Virtual Mall – called ‘O World’, the upgraded online shopping platform.
“O World brings our off-line store right to your screen. With an innovative touch of art and technology, customers can enjoy a unique online shopping experience anytime, anywhere.
“To better connect online and offline platforms, Sunrise invested in building an International Commodity Operations Center. Two years from now, this Operations Center, covering more than 200,000sq m, will welcome all of you at the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. It will be an exact replica of the online O World.”
Sunrise said that O World is neither traditional offline shopping, nor is it a simple online proposition. Instead it described the platform as a “fusion of virtual and realistic three-dimensional shopping space”.
Guests were able to visit the impressive online space last night in a special demonstration area, complete with virtual reality head-sets. The online platform features an elegant ‘virtual shop’, replete with stunning three-dimensional imagery and extensive product information.
Sunrise said that O World is designed to deliver “a unique consumer experience” by blending artistic and technological elements “beyond the reality of online space”.
Customers can log on to O World and discover the three-dimensional shopping mall, which they can tour, browse and shop.
Brands can continuously upgrade their range and display, highlight exclusive or seasonal offers and maintain absolute flexibility over their consumer visibility. The platform includes detailed product information and imagery via what Sunrise described as an “immersive consumer experience”.
Last night’s stunning stage set (created at the Sunrise Duty Free staff compound near Shanghai Pudong Airport) was designed by Han Lixun, famous for designing and choreographing the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics among other world-renowned creations.
Han Lixun said he hoped that through the integration of technology and art, virtual reality and reality, a compelling interaction between the mall and its consumers would be realised, so that shoppers would have a more emotional experience when browsing.
Last night’s demonstration was held in a giant temporary “wooden matrix” (pictured below) especially created for the evening. As Kiang mentioned, Sunrise will now set about constructing a permanent 200,000sq m centre in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. A bonded area, complete with full warehousing and logistics facilities will allow a combination of online and offline shopping, with both domestic and foreign transactions fulfilled.
Sunrise said that O World will encourage Chinese travelling consumers to shop in China [in line with the government’s desire to encourage domestic consumption – Ed].
Comment: This was an evening that combined Sunrise’s trademark elegance, class and deep-felt hospitality with an exhilarating, educational and evolutionary look into how the retailer is fusing the real and virtual worlds. There is much to admire in O World, not simply its technological excellence but particularly the way in which a real sense of theatre has been added to the usually soulless online experience. Take a look at the imagery at the top of this page for a real (and virtual) taste of the fabulously choreographed vision of this important initiative.
Here is a bricks and mortar travel retailer realising not only that it must reinvent itself in a world increasingly dominated by e-commerce (particularly in China) but having the courage and vision to do it on its own terms. [I’ll bring you a full report in a forthcoming edition of The Moodie Davitt e-Zine and my personal view on O World in my Blog later this week.]
