This week, we share news about Tmall’s launch of a 3D online shopping solution for home-furnishing brands. We also highlight young Chinese female shoppers’ recent fashion trends on Taobao. And we share Billie Eilish’s opening of her flagship store on Tmall Global. 

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Tmall Launches 3D Virtual Showroom Feature for Home-furnishing Brands

On Thursday, Alibaba’s B2C e-commerce site, Tmall, rolled out a new 3D shopping solution dedicated to home-furnishing brands – one of the platform’s latest New Retail innovations. With their phones, consumers can explore a virtual shopping complex, home to over 10,000 immersive 3D showrooms. Shoppers can use it to browse furniture from 360 degrees, as well as mix and match their favorite pieces. Brands and interior designers can make use of Tmall’s free 3D rendering and design tools to move their showcases online via the new feature. Tmall first piloted the 3D shopping technology during last year’s 6.18 shopping festival to help brands reconnect with consumers and generate growth in the wake of the pandemic. Among the first to tap the tool was IKEA, which unveiled an online version of one of its Shanghai stores last March. 

Billie Eilish Opens Store on Tmall Global 

U.S. singer-songwriter Billie Eilish – who recently took home the Grammy Award for “Record of the Year” – has announced the launch of her flagship store on Tmall Global, Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce marketplace. From T-shirts to hoodies and hats, Eilish’s store offers a selection of merchandise, including newly debuted products for the China market. The launch comes as Tmall Global looks to enrich the range of celebrity-owned brands and merchandise available on the platform, including recent partnerships with Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Victoria Beckham.

China’s Young Female Shoppers are Gravitating Towards Subculture Fashion 

Young Chinese female shoppers are increasingly attracted to subculture fashion styles, such as  Lolita – a style of dress with roots in Japan with Victorian or Rococo influence and focusing on “cuteness”  –traditional Chinese Hanfu and Japanese uniform fashion, according to statistics from China’s largest e-commerce marketplace Taobao. These three subcategories combined represent an ever-growing billion-dollar market, said the platform. This group of shoppers have been showing interactive behavior on Taobao, creating online communities and forums for shoppers to exchange fashion tips and network with one another. As China’s younger generations seek more ways to express themselves, demand for niche products and boutique brands are also on the rise. In fact, the number of newly joined Taobao merchant peaked between April 2020 and March 2021, recording thei highest growth rate since 2017.

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