China's malls take advantage of online-to-offline e-commerce
China is playing a leading role in online-to-offline strategy development
With rapid development in smartphone usage and the mobile internet, China is definitely playing a leading role among other countries in the development of the online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce model, says Tom Gong Yitao, the former chief executive of Dalian Wanda Group's e-commerce unit.
Strong financial support from owners of mainland shopping centres has also prompted China's e-commerce development ahead of others, according to Gong.
O2O e-commerce is an integration of offline business opportunities with the internet. Such platforms attract customers online, but the real consumption of services is experienced by consumers offline.
It also involved the use of internet technologies to interact with customers and track shoppers' behaviour, said Gong.
Gong was invited by Wanda's chairman Wang Jianlin in 2012 to establish an O2O platform and related operation services through the use of internet technologies for the company's 100 shopping malls.
Gong left Wanda in April last year and established his own company, AllDragon International, to serve other shopping centre owners who want to develop O2O strategies to best leverage their current offline physical presence.