"Mobile Taobao has evolved into an interactive lifestyle platform driven by a vibrant young consumer population who seek to do much more than just shop,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO, Alibaba Group. “It is a destination for innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives to showcase and experiment amongst a community of 423 million Chinese consumers on our China retail marketplaces that come to Mobile Taobao to explore, discover and be entertained.”
Taobao Marketplace was created in 2003 as an online shopping destination for Chinese consumers looking for a wide selection of products at extraordinary value and convenience. In 2010, Alibaba Group launched the Mobile Taobao app to transition its flagship consumer-to-consumer (C2C) shopping platform to capture additional and more interactive opportunities in mobile commerce. Today, the Taobao platform supports millions of entrepreneurs across China with unparalleled levels of user engagement across e-commerce, digital media, travel, social and local services:
• 150 million daily active users on Mobile Taobao
• Users launch the Taobao app an average of seven times per day
• Users spend more than 20 minutes each day on the app
• Users browse an average of 19 products during a 24-hour period, and
• Mobile Taobao users post more than 20 million reviews and comments every day.
“Millennials are the driving force behind Taobao Marketplace, with more than 70% of buyers in their 20s and 30s,” said Chris Tung, CMO, Alibaba Group. “As users continue to engage with the platform in more meaningful ways, we are fostering next-generation consumption features, such as virtual reality, to transcend the overall user experience. We hope the Taobao Maker Festival will inspire young makers to continue innovating and reaching the world through the Taobao ecosystem.”
With interactive content and cutting-edge technology, Alibaba plans to turn virtual reality (VR) into a communication tool that can help companies engage with consumers on a more personal level, creating a rewarding and engaging shopping experience by taking them into “the store”. Alibaba believes the VR shopping experience will become a valuable and sought after service in itself, just as much as the products on offer online.
Visitors to the Taobao Maker Festival can experience Alibaba’s beta project “Buy+” (Buy Plus), a new online shopping experience that leverages VR technology. Visitors to the event can put on Alibaba’s VR headset and be taken through a futuristic shopping experience, including a VR robot to help customers choose suitable products and a 360-degree panoramic view that enables shoppers to view products on offer in more detail. This technology also includes an interactive “check for details” function with models showcasing apparel and accessories products on a catwalk.
“Millennials are the driving force behind Taobao Marketplace, with more than 70% of buyers in their 20s and 30s,” said Chris Tung, CMO, Alibaba Group. “As users continue to engage with the platform in more meaningful ways, we are fostering next-generation consumption features, such as virtual reality, to transcend the overall user experience. We hope the Taobao Maker Festival will inspire young makers to continue innovating and reaching the world through the Taobao ecosystem.”
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| Source: Alibaba. Virtual reality experiences abound at the Taobao Maker Festival. |
With interactive content and cutting-edge technology, Alibaba plans to turn virtual reality (VR) into a communication tool that can help companies engage with consumers on a more personal level, creating a rewarding and engaging shopping experience by taking them into “the store”. Alibaba believes the VR shopping experience will become a valuable and sought after service in itself, just as much as the products on offer online.
Visitors to the Taobao Maker Festival can experience Alibaba’s beta project “Buy+” (Buy Plus), a new online shopping experience that leverages VR technology. Visitors to the event can put on Alibaba’s VR headset and be taken through a futuristic shopping experience, including a VR robot to help customers choose suitable products and a 360-degree panoramic view that enables shoppers to view products on offer in more detail. This technology also includes an interactive “check for details” function with models showcasing apparel and accessories products on a catwalk.
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| Source: Alibaba. Alibaba Group’s Buy+ VR shopping technology made its debut during the Group’s Taobao Maker Festival in July 2016. This marks another key milestone for Alibaba’s VR strategy, which focuses on helping businesses offer futuristic shopping experiences. |
Alibaba Group sees huge potential in VR going forward. Goldman Sachs predicts that revenues generated by VR and AR hardware will reach US$110 billion within ten years, and that VR devices will become as pervasive as televisions. A report from AliResearch, the research arm of the Alibaba Group, also shows that as the VR industry matures, consumers may spend as much as 40% of their entertainment time on VR.
In March 2016, Alibaba announced the launch of GnomeMagic Lab, set up to develop cutting-edge VR/augmented reality (AR) technologies to empower its various businesses and partners to overcome technical barriers and unlock their creativity at the lowest cost. The long-term goal is to enable businesses to set up VR stores as quickly and easily as they can via a Web page.
The lab has already completed hundreds of sophisticated product models. The next phase will be to develop standardised tools so that brands and merchants selling on Alibaba’s platforms can build their own 3D inventories. Alibaba will also work with other businesses within the Group such as Alibaba Pictures and Alibaba Music to produce premium VR content, and support hardware vendors to popularise new VR devices.
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