In today’s world, it’s unlikely that any of you have never heard of Alibaba.
It became the second Asian company to break the US$500 billion valuation mark, after Tencent on Jan 2018.
Alibaba Group owes the two biggest marketplaces in the world-Taobao marketplace and Tmall. As of March in 2018, it has 552 million annual active consumers on its China retail marketplaces.
Being one of the top 10 most valuable brand in the world, Alibaba has adopted new and convenient ways for traditional retailers to engage with their customers with the aid of digital marketing :
1.Partnering with Ford, the Multinational Motor Company
Together with Ford, Alibaba sets up the Super Test-Drive Center in Guangzhou to provide users with up to 100 Ford cars to choose from for a free three-day test driving by using Tmall or Taobao apps.
Users can first select the car model that they are interested in and pay a deposit electronically, after that they can schedule a pickup time, and snap a selfie so the vending machine can recognize them when they pick up the car for a test drive.
This whole experience took less than 10 minutes.
2. Launching a visual search tool
Alibaba Cloud cooperated with Australia’s online retailer, The Iconic, to launch a visual search tool, Snap to Shop, allowing users to search for clothing, sportswear and accessories by uploading a photo or taking a photo in the app.
You’ll receive a populated feed of more than 50,000 products from 800 brands.
The feature works by way of an algorithm, which visually matches your photo to products from THE ICONIC product assortment.
3. Launching of Fashion AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Alibaba launched Fashion AI early last year to provide mix-and-match suggestions for consumers, based on over 500,000 sources data of fashion and dressing tips from stylists on the Taobao and Tmall.
This technology has extended to offline shopping. Alibaba has newly opened a Fashion AL concept store in Hong Kong.
Shoppers have to first check in via their mobile Taobao ID code or alternatively,
opt for a face scan.
Once inside, the articles selected by the shoppers will automatically show up in the Smart Mirror once they come in contact with the clothing racks which are RFID- enabled and use gyro-sensors and Bluetooth low-energy chips.
Via the mirrors, shoppers can look at different size and colour options but also receive personalised mix-and-match options to complete the look.
Conclusion
Digital marketing plays a vital role in helping traditional retailers to restructure and enhancing the way they operate, boosting sales and expanding business globally. In the near-future, we can expect more and more companies using digital marketing as a form of tool to create a more personalised shopping experience for consumers.
Which of these 3 innovative digital marketing approaches amazed you and why is that? Feel free to leave your thoughts below!
Mandy's Marketing life 