Have you heard about the term O2O? Yes? No? Well, I’m not talking about the well known C-drama ‘Love O2O’, but a shopping platform that applies O2O (online to offline) concept. Online to offline, commonly abbreviated to O2O, is a phrase that is used in digital marketing to describe systems enticing consumers within a digital environment to make purchases of goods or services from physical businesses.

It’s still something new in Malaysia and Quill City Mall Kuala Lumpur is the first in Malaysia to host a forum discussing the future of retail via ‘phygital’ platform.

Quill City is determined to provide a borderless shopping and retail platform where local shoppers as well as businesses will gain access to the global marketplace for purchases and trade.

Six retail industry players explored the future of retail impacted by the “phygital” era at an expert forum at the Quill City Convention Center. Quill City Mall is taking a new turn in 2020 with a brand new retail strategy, making their mall all about creating a meaningful shopping platform for stakeholders including local entrepreneurs.

In the picture: Group CEO of Quill Group of Companies, Koong Wai Seng, delivering his keynote address during the ‘Future Proof Your Business-New Retail Innovations & Interventions – Talk & Forum’ .

According to Koong, it is time we welcome the “phygital” era-the era of physical and digital being merged together. Koong said that a “phygital” mail creates a balanced retail ecosystem converging in experience and fostering a meaningful and intimate relationships between all the stakeholders.

“It is about designing a shopping platform, a journey within a physical space, with consumer-centric tech infrastructure that facilitates the interactions between consumers and brands throughout the shopping experience.

“We need to challenge retailers that had or hadn’t been focused on pushing their products online to reimagine the essential role physical experience play in building strong and memorable relationships with their customers,” said Group CEO of Quill Group of Companies, Koong Wai Seng.

As more retail sales have shifted online with the rise of technology, the joy of being able to see, touch, and feel the product before making a purchase remains. The platform of the purchase itself is secondary to consumers. While the fun of shopping didn’t change, the way we shop certainly did. The ever-evolving consumer expectations require retailers to constantly adapt to meet their needs for comfort, convenience, and entertainment.

“It is about designing a shopping platform, a journey within a physical space, with consumer-centric tech infrastructure that facilitates the interactions between consumers and brands throughout the shopping experience,” said Koong.

From borderless payment, borderless logistics, and live streaming Marketing by influencers, Quill City is determined to provide a borderless shopping and retail platform where local shoppers as well as businesses will gain access to the global marketplace for purchases and trade. Koong also said that their decision in building “phygital” features into the mall comes from their earnest purpose to become a tool to empower small and medium-sized retailers and nome-grown entrepreneurs. With technology-fueled infrastructures and “phygital” tools, International and local businesses are encouraged to expand the reach of their audience and improve their bottom line.

“Retailers, from large to small, both international and local, will be able to leverage on the “phygital” infrastructure we have built to engage with audiences that they wouldn’t have otherwise. We believe that a part of leading into the future means lifting everyone in the industry as you grow,” said Koong.

Quill City Mall also announced new tenants that are already onboard to building their very first “phygital concept stores in Malaysia. These tenants include JDX Presto, E-Sports Center, and UniKL. Koong also said that their decision in building “phygital” features into the mall comes from their earnest purpose to become a tool to empower small and medium-sized retailers and nome-grown entrepreneurs. With technology-fueled infrastructures and “phygital” tools, International and local businesses are encouraged to expand the reach of their audience and improve their bottom line.

Six industry experts also led a forum about “Future Proof Your Business – New Retail Innovations and Interventions.” The expert forum moderated by Jonathan Case assembled a panel that consisted of Anwar Jumabhoy (Industry Expert) , Kent Lee (Founder of Smuzcity), Redza Shahid (Founder of Grubcycle) and Cheong Chia Chou (CEO of PUC Berhad).

Cheong Chia Chou (CEO of PUC Berhad).

Anwar Jumabhoy (Industry Expert)

Redza Shahid (Founder of Grubcycle)

Kent Lee (Founder of Smuzcity)

These experts further confirmed that the future of retail needs to promote intimate social relationships between brands, both international and local, with consumers by building a physical space that is customer experience-centric.

Shoppers can anticipate more exciting updates as Quill City Mall ease into more “phygital” era in the next 12 months, but for those who want to have a glimpse of what future of shopping really looks like, may hop over to Quill City Mall this coming 12 December 2019 where the JDX Presto, the largest cashless concept store in Asean. JDX Presto will be having its official grand opening at Quill City Mall, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 12 – making every transaction cashless and seamless.

And in conjunction with the grand launch, the first 250 shoppers will get to purchase selected hot items for RM12.12 only. Queuing time starts at 8am and doors will open at 11am. In addition to that, shoppers who spend at the store from Dec 12 to 31 will stand a chance to win five pairs of Hong Kong Disneyland Theme Park admission tickets. Located at Level 3, Quill City Mall KL, the new concept store spans across 50,000sqft and will hosts multi-label products ranging from electrical, gadgets, health and beauty, home and living, fashion and even food and beverage that are hot-selling items in the ASEAN market.

The Presto app is available on Apple Store and Google Play. For more information about Presto, visit https://www.prestouniverse.com/presto

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