As many of you may already know, Aliexpress is known for being one of the most popular brands in e-commerce, competing with Amazon and eBay. The company is part of Alibaba Group and is a group of small, mostly Chinese companies that offer products internationally.
Why a physical store?
Aliexpress has made headlines in the national media due to the commotion and controversy surrounding the opening of its physical store in Madrid, which was attended by approximately 3,000 people.
It may seem a bit strange that one of the most famous online stores in the world has entered the offline business, but in truth, it is a great marketing strategy. E-commerce was initially a source of mistrust, but over the years more people have come to trust it. But there is still a large part of the population that does not trust online commerce, especially older people.
That is why Aliexpress has decided to open a physical store so that those people who are more distrustful of online shopping can touch, see and check the quality of their products and thus gain trust and consequently get more customers.
Reasons for the incorporation of Aliexpress physical store
Apart from the trust mentioned above, the Alibaba Group has also opened the store for the following reasons.
1. Trust
In this way, those people who are more distrustful of online commerce will be able to review some products before buying them in the physical store, which will make them gain confidence in the group and consequently buy safely on Aliexpress.
2. Delivery of orders in store
Aliexpress has a weakness in relation to its biggest competitor, Amazon, in the delivery time of the order. Most of the products of the e-commerce giant come from China and, therefore, take longer to arrive. But thanks to the agreement with Correos to speed up delivery and the new possibility of collecting your package in the physical store, this delivery time will be reduced. A factor that can increase its customers.
3. New retail
This is a new concept that the Alibaba Group is implementing. This concept is based on the fusion of the offline shopping experience with the online shopping experience, that is, users who are in the physical store, using a QR code, will be able to access a technical sheet of the products that contains all the information, as if they were on the digital portal.
4. Expand end customers
Obviously, opening a physical store can open up a new range of customers for you, those people who are less immersed in the digital world. There is surely a percentage of the population that does not know the Aliexpress brand, but thanks to the new physical investment they will become known and in this way they will reach new customers who are unreachable digitally.
5. Improve shopping experience
Ultimately, this is one of the objectives set by B2C purchasing , especially in the digital sector. Thanks to the purchase options, order collection and service evaluation, the customer will improve the shopping experience on the platform and that will help improve the Aliexpress brand image.
Background to the physical store (Pop up's)
Pop-ups are a concept used to explain these ephemeral physical stores, that is, there are businesses that decide to open a physical location of their brands for a certain period of time with the aim of promoting their products/services. In this way, they can also analyze whether it would be profitable to establish a permanent physical business.
Pop-ups are a great example of experiential marketing , which canada telegram data allows brands a direct purchasing channel, a way to build customer loyalty and the possibility of reaching new markets.
Aliexpress previously opened some pop-ups to check and analyse whether a permanent incorporation of the store was profitable. The results were excellent and, therefore, the Alibaba group started the investment for the opening of the premises last Sunday.
Aliexpress is not the only online business that has launched pop-ups. The platform's biggest competitor, Amazon, opened a pop-up in November 2018 for the Black Friday campaign.
Conclusions
Both physical and digital companies have the possibility of moving from online to offline business and vice versa. In the end, the main objective is to achieve the best shopping experience for the customer regardless of the way in which they buy.
Aliexpress has implemented this experiential marketing strategy to make life easier and more comfortable for the customer, thus incorporating the 2 purchasing methods and improving the ordering time.
Are we facing a new marketing technique? Will we find online retail giants' shops on the streets in the future?
At KIWOP we believe that investing in the incorporation of a physical store or online store is essential to expand the market. Our digital marketing agency is specialized in online business, that is why if you decide to take the step and want to incorporate an online store , do not hesitate to contact us.
