This week I will be embarking on a learning journey to Beijing and Shanghai to experience what New Retail in China is all about.

 “New Retail” is a term coined by Alibaba’s Jack Ma in 2016. Simply put, to be engaged in New Retail is to engage customers both online and offline. 

The volume for online shopping has grown exponentially. As mentioned in my previous blog post, Alibaba’s 11.11 shopping festival in 2018 recorded exceptional sales of US$30.8 billion in just 24 hours. But if online shopping is the way to go, then why are online giants like Alibaba and Amazon moving into the brick and mortar space, for example with Hema Supermarkets for the former and Whole Foods Market for the latter?

What roles do online and offline play in New Retail? How can brick and mortar spaces complement the online presence of brands? How does a New Retail shop look like? How should we be designing it?

I’m looking forward to answers – and even more questions.

Looking at the itinerary, I think I am in for a good time.

Angeline Tong is an architect of narratives and Chief Curator at HOL, an experience strategy and curation consultancy. Angeline has a Master of Education (Human Development & Psychology) from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from Harvard University. She currently resides in Singapore.

To contact Angeline, email atong@hol.sg