Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is opening its largest Taobao store to-date in Malaysia, according several local media reports.
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Dubbed ‘Taobao Store by Lumahgo,’ the store has opened in partnership with Malaysian retailer Lumahgo New Retail, and is located inside MyTown Shopping Centre in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Spanning 5,000 square feet of retail space, the shop will be the biggest Taobao Store in the country when it opens its doors on 29th November.
“The opening of our latest Taobao store demonstrates our commitment to local shoppers and brands, as we further localise services and experiences for the Malaysian market,” said Jess Lew, marketing manager of Tmall World Malaysia.
The launch news coincided with Alibaba’s record-breaking Singles’ Day event, which witnessed gross merchandise value of about US$12 billion in the first hour of deployment on 11th November.
“We are excited to share a glimpse of this upcoming space as part of our 11.11 celebrations this year, emphasising how we will integrate local brands and merchants with our New Retail vision,” added Lew.
For 11.11 in 2019, Alibaba’s top ten markets outside of China were Japan, the U.S., South Korea, Australia, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada, and New Zealand, making Malaysia a market for growth, said Fabian Kong, CEO of Lumahgo New Retail.
Of particular focus, physical retail, allowing customers to see and feel product. On 8th – 10th November, shoppers were privy to a pop- up preview experience. Inside, local brands Redtick, BigboxAsia, Vivid Malaysia, DirectD Malaysia and Deep Furniture were on display, as well as mum-and-baby product channel Qinbaobei and Taobao Grocer.
“Having a physical space means shoppers will be able to touch and feel a variety of products in person before making a purchase on the Taobao app simply by scanning a QR code, with the help of our staff at the store,” said Kong.
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Consumers spent more than US$56.58 million on Taobao during the 24-hour period of the shopping holiday in 2018, which saw over 180,000 brands and merchants flashing sale items.