Moment of truth nears for Alibaba’s first mall

The retail world is waiting with bated breath as Chinese online retail juggernaut Alibaba prepares to open its first physical shopping centre.

The Chinese company, which is valued at almost $500 billion but until now has only offered only online retail services, is making the jump into malls that consumers can actually visit, with its first bricks and mortar shopping centre in Hangzhou, China.

Due to open its doors in April, Alibaba’s mall – dubbed “MAO Mall” or “More Mall” – will span five storeys and sit on a 40,000sqm block of land, and will feature products and brands that Alibaba currently sells on its Taobao e-commerce platform, as well as regular retail brands.

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The mall has been designed by Hassell, which created Alibaba’s first workplace campus, located nearby.

Alibaba’s Binjiang campus, also designed by Australian architecture firm Hassell.

Hassell principal Carrie Ho says the shopping centre will be like nothing shoppers have seen before.

“Our design creates an integrated journey between the online experience of shopping with Alibaba and their offline space. It’s an internalised environment and physical display of the online platform,” Ho says.

“Convenience, connection and experience have been our key drivers while designing MAO Mall with Alibaba. Our brand experience and connection strategy includes the first ever Alibaba concept store and concept museum.”

MAO Mall will also feature the flagship store for Alibaba’s grocery chain Hema, which it launched in 2015.

The company has recently shifted its purely online focus into other avenues, opening a number of unmanned convenience stores, as well as bringing big-date technology to millions of small retailers.

In February last year, Realcommercial reported Alibaba had opened its first Australian office in Melbourne’s CBD as it attempts to grow its earnings across Australia and New Zealand.