CHINA. GDFS, which describes itself as travel retail’s first membership-based global vertical e-commerce company, has opened another physical ‘Experience Store’, this time in Shanghai.
The 350sq m store, opened late last month, follows a series of 2017 openings in locations including Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
GDFS Vice President Diana Xi told The Moodie Davitt Report: “We now have ten experience stores and will have 30 by year-end.”
GDF is also opening a store later this month in Inner Mongolia, with others set to be unveiled in Urumqi and Hangzhou (the retailer’s third location there) in coming weeks.
The Experience Stores allow Chinese consumers to test new products before ordering them online via the company’s website and having them home-delivered.
President Barry Chen said: “Right now, the average transaction is US$200-300 across our network with 60% of our members buying once a month. For each store we are generating sales on average of CNY3-5 million per month (US$47,000-78,000).”
Chen said that the early success of the GDFS stores is just the first step in the company’s ambitious digital journey. “Our final goal is to build a big database that will include information on shoppers’ habits and what they like to buy.” Because the retailer has a membership-based programme, it already has extensive information on its consumer base.
As previously reported, consumers pay an annual VIP membership fee of US$118 to benefit from shopping opportunities through the GDFS website (www.gdfs.com) and the physical and online offers of its overseas partners. For its e-commerce site, GDFS ships goods from its warehouse in Hong Kong direct to Mainland Chinese purchasers. “We have around 200,000 members in total,” said Diana Xi. “Among them, there are 150,000 VIP members who pay $118 annually.”
Note: GDFS was profiled in an extensive feature by The Moodie Davitt Report last year in Hangzhou. Click here to read.
