Jul 20, 2020|
JD Opens “Loft” Space on App to Enable Merchants Build VR Shopping Zone
by Yuchuan Wang
JD.com, China’s e-commerce giant, has opened a “loft” space for online stores on its app, where merchants can build their own VR shopping functions leveraging a series of tools provided by JD. Consumers can access the loft space simply by scrolling down on individual stores’ homepages.
With more and more adoption of 5G, consumers have accustomed to shopping online through short videos, AR/VR and 3D shops. But most of the merchants are not equipped the ability to build VR shops and 3D virtual shopping guides. The “loft” initiative provides an additional marketing scenario to merchants and equips them with technology capabilities. Templates, online customization of VR scenarios and 3D virtual shopping guides are among the tools provided free-of-charge to merchants on JD.
For example, in Haier’s flagship store, consumers can view home appliances in “real” set-ups through the VR living room, VR kitchen and VR bedroom in the loft space, and buy with a single click.
Popular snack brand “Three Squirrel” designs its loft space as a “tree house for snacks” where consumers can interact with the brand through games, watching videos and more. The fun and interactive elements are expected to help raise overall consumer loyalty.
The new offering currently covers product categories including computers and digital, telecommunications, beauty, furniture, FMCG, books and more. It helped raise customer in-store duration time by 50% within the first month of launch. Compared with typical stores, the order conversion rates of the stores taking advantage of loft space are three-to-four times higher.
Jiandong Pei, vice president at JD Retail said, “JD is committed to bringing the best shopping experiences to our consumers and assisting merchants to grow on our platform. We will keep innovating e-commerce shopping scenarios and driving the upgrade of traditional online shops.”