Apr 8, 2020|
JD Brings Museum and Gallery Visits Online during COVID-19
by Rachel Liu
JD has worked with leading museums and galleries in China to bring cultural experiences online through live streaming while boosting sales of art objects sold in the stores.
Museums such as Guanfu Museum (founded by Chinese writer and collector Weidu Ma), National Art and Crafts Museum, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and Song Art Museum have joined the project. On March 10th, the curator of Guanfu Museum held a live tour to introduce the museum’s china collections. The session attracted over 200,000 visitors in just two hours. Sales of the Guanfu Museum flagship store increased about 460%.
In the past seven sessions, JD has invited curators of the institutions to lead customers for online tours around the museums and galleries, and introduce the historical and cultural backgrounds of the collections. This form of live stream has attracted many people who enjoy art and culture, as COVID-19 has kept people from going for actual visits.
The experience provides customers a chance to listen to introductions from experts – something they may not have access to browsing the museum on their own. Conversion rates have been impressive: Sales of the UCCA store doubled during the live session compared with the day before. Sales of the Shu (Sichuan province) Embroidery Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum store were 60 times of the sales of whole month of February.
Beginning March 17th, following the success of the museum and gallery live stream, JD has also launched live streams for time-honored Chinese brands to improve the recognition of Chinese culture among customers and help brands boost sales during the pandemic. Over 10 time-honored brands have joined project, including silk brands Rui Fu Xiang, Beijing roast duck brand Quanjude, and Chinese pharmaceutical brand Tong Ren Tang. From April 1st-6th, the brands have held live stream sessions on JD every day to introduce historical techniques and products.