The stores, opened under the brand name Ochama, introduce. Therefore, what JDcom has described as “an unprecedented shopping format. Which merges “online ordering and pick-up shops in which robots prepare the parcels. Therefore, and home delivery service”. Not only is Ochama significant for being JDcom’s first physical store outside of Asia. It may also be the first instance of the concept of ‘New Retail’ in Europe.
How does Ochama work?
To shop at Ochama, consumers must first sign up to become a member. Therefore, which is currently free for the first year on a promotional basis. But will later cost 10€ per year. Upon signing up, members need to volunteer their mobile number, email address, and postal address. Ochama touts a number of benefits associated with membership, including free collection, free returns. Therefore, and 10% of the value of each shop awarded to your account as credit.
All purchases at Ochama are made online, whether lebanon email database through the website or through the app. This is where the merging of online and offline comes in: although Ochama has physical stores, they operate more as a combination of showroom and warehouse, with robots picking and preparing orders that are subsequently delivere to the customer on a conveyor belt when they arrive to collect it, or pack for home delivery. The shop floor also features carefully-crafteds displays of Ochama’s range of products that are designed to inspire customers when they come in-store to collect their items.
How Ochama embodies the concept of New Retail
As mentioned earlier, the core tenet of New Retail, as envisioned by its creator, Jack Ma, is the integration of online, offline, logistics and data into a “single value chain”. When Ma first envisaged the concept in 2016 (before fully outlining it in a 2017 letter to shareholders), he reportedly stated that New Retail would make the distinction between physical and virtual commerce obsolete.
Like many other New Retail store chains in China such as Hema Xiansheng and Seven Fresh, Ochama achieves this by positioning its app at the core of the shopping experience. Ochama’s store windows prominently display QR codes that can be used to download the Ochama app on Android or iOS, and although placing an order via the desktop website is possible, the expectation is that shoppers will be using the app, which is designed to offer a quick and seamless ordering experience. The app is also required for in-store collection, as it generates the QR code that shoppers scan to pick up their order.
The significance of JDcom’s New Retail foray into Europe
Alibaba is well-known as the architect of the concept of New Retail. The main driving force behind New Retail stores in China, having not only launche. Therefore, its own chain of New Retail stores in the form of Hema Xiansheng. But also bought a controlling stake in supermarket group Sun Art. Therefore, one of China’s largest big-box and supermarket chains, and outfitting its stores with New Retail technology.