In today’s O2O era, mobile apps have become a popular shopping channel for customers. Retailers are putting more efforts in devising their mobile strategies. One recent O2O trend is the application of shopping apps in selected shopping malls and department stores. Thanks to new retail technologies such as location-based beacon technology, retail operators in China can leverage mobile shopping apps to understand consumer in-app behavior and provide better shopping experience. These shopping apps provide one-stop-shop services including in-store navigation, promotions and events notification, mobile payment, restaurant booking services, reward programs, to name just a few.

Some retail operators in China have started to launch shopping apps and test new technologies that may revolutionize the entire retail eco-system. Currently, there are two common ways to do so – lining up with third-party shopping app developers, or developing the shopping app for its own retail chain. Alibaba’s “Miaojie” app (喵街) and Wanda’s “Feifan” app (飞凡) can best illustrate the two models respectively.

The Fung Business Intelligence Centre (FBIC) visited some department stores and shopping malls in Beijing in October 2015 and tried out both the “Miaojie” app and “Feifan” app. This newsletter highlights the major features and functionalities of mobile shopping apps and summarizes our experiences with the shopping apps.