31 May, PETALING JAYA – Taobao, China’s largest social commerce marketplace of Alibaba Group, and Atap.co, Malaysia’s leading online home design platform, today unveiled the first Taobao Home Experience Centre at The Square, Jaya One, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The New Retail concept store is the result of a partnership with Taobao’s home & living channel Jiyoujia, introducing to Malaysian consumers a diverse range of quality and stylish furniture products in an innovative and engaging format.
Jiyoujia, established since 2015, offers the very best of home and living products carefully curated from hundreds of millions of items on the Taobao platform. It emphasises on product quality and compelling furniture designs that unify aesthetics and functionality – which are gaining popularity in Malaysia.
Commenting on the launch, Mickey Xiong, Country Director of Taobao and Tmall World for Southeast Asia & Hong Kong markets, said, “Today’s launch is yet another demonstration of our commitment to partnering with Malaysian businesses and serving customers better with innovative and digital-enabled services. We are extremely pleased to be partnering with Atap.co to bring Taobao Home Experience Centre to Malaysia, where we have seen strong demand for high quality and well-designed home & living products, with impressive growth year over year in the category. With its New Retail format and customized services, we are confident the store will offer Malaysian consumers a seamless and superior shopping experience.”
The 4500 sq. ft. Experience Centre will allow Malaysian shoppers to see, touch and feel products from Jiyoujia, especially the larger items, before making purchases online, or to find inspirations to build their very own home sweet home.
Sim Moh Sheng, Founder of Atap.co, said, “The Experience Centre is more than just a showroom; it is designed as a one-stop shop to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experience. Customers can browse any Jiyoujia products at the Experience Centre and simply hover their mobile phones to scan the QR codes attached on the products for more information; while our Atap.co consultants are ready to answer any queries, help to offer expert advice for home décor ideas and consultation on renovation.”
Atap.co is a platform where home-owners can connect with interior designers for expert advice on home makeover. The leading online home design services provider has over 450 interior designers on its network, making it the largest of such platforms in Malaysia. Furthermore, the company also counts Malaysia’s top 25 developers among its partners by helping them with their home furnishing needs for property projects.
The one-stop solution store, managed by Atap.co, offers in-home delivery and installation services fulfilled by certified professional vendors and installers at a nominal charge. In addition, Malaysian customers can also purchase local warranty by Atap.co.
The Taobao Home Experience Centre is carefully furnished by Atap.co with local tastes and preferences in mind, with most of the sleek and upscale furniture sourced from two of the most popular merchants on Jiyoujia: Hancock Home and Coconordic – who are known for their mid-to-high-end luxury style that takes inspiration from modern and minimalist living.
In a sharing session, Klevn Wu, Founder of Coconordic said, “We are excited to introduce our products through this Experience Centre. Through Taobao and Atap.co, we are now able to serve Malaysian customers more conveniently as we are able to build emotional connections with local customers through this offline store. Understanding their needs better will also help us provide products that cater to their styles.”
Cherry Chu, Partner and Store Manager of Hancock Home shared, “Over the past few years, Malaysian customers on Taobao have been reaching out to us to buy our products and want it to be delivered to Malaysia. With today’s partnership, we have a reliable local partner, Atap.co, who will be managing all the third-party services such as logistics and after-sales installation, making Hancock Home more accessible to Malaysian customers.”
Taobao 618 Mid-Year Sale campaign for homeowners
In conjunction with the launch, Malaysian customers shopping at Jiyoujia on Taobao will also enjoy discounts offered through the Taobao 618 Mid-Year Sale campaign held from 29 May -2 June and 16-18 June 2019.
Customers who purchase Jiyoujia items during this period will be able to enjoy promotion deals with deduction of 15RMB for every purchase of 200RMB with no maximum cap. In addition to this, shoppers can also enjoy limited-time offers with the 3% credit card services fee waived off from 1 – 2 June and special discount codes up for grab on Taobao.