(Yicai) May 27 -- Home appliance brands and brick-and-mortar retailers in China are taking a different tack to this year’s 618 shopping festival. Rather than competing mainly on price, as in the past, they are using lifestyle apps such as Meituan and Douyin to entice people into their stores.

This service model, known as “in-store retail,” uses lifestyle apps to help consumers discover products and claim promotions online, then complete their purchases offline, with the goal of converting digital traffic into store visits and sales.

An air conditioner specialty store in South China has been experimenting with offline traffic acquisition through Meituan, the country’s leading local life services app, since the end of last year, its manager told Yicai. The store has also recently started livestreaming on Douyin, the original Chinese version of TikTok, offering online discounts on installation fees to induce shoppers to complete purchases in-store.

Moreover, the store has partnered with mapping services such as Baidu Maps and Amap to give nearby platform users directions and other information to help them visit the shop, the manager said.
Yongsheng Home Appliances, a chain retailer based in Tianshui, Gansu province, is increasing its exposure on Douyin livestreams to drive traffic to its offline stores during the 618 shopping gala, and is no longer relying only on low-price tactics to attract buyers, according to General Manager Liu Wenjuan.

The 618 shopping gala, which takes place annually from late May through June 18, is China's second largest retail extravaganza after Double 11 in November. Begun as an anniversary sale for e-commerce giant JD.Com, which was founded on June 18, 1998, the mid-year shopping fiesta has evolved into a vast, weeks-long event of heavy discounts and widespread livestreaming.

Beyond offline traffic-to-store efforts, the instant retail model that was once limited to everyday consumer goods is now being used for home appliances as well. With instant retail, orders placed online are brought straight to the customer’s home by delivery riders. It had not been widely used for large appliances that require more complicated after-sales support until now.

Products available for instant retail are expanding from small daily necessities to household appliances, signaling that competition in the appliance market is moving from a price war to a service war and is allowing offline stores to redefine their value, said Peng Xiandong, general manager of the retail services division at GFK Zhongyikang.

Following Midea Group and Haier Group, Gree Electric Appliances also entered a partnership with Meituan in April to promote instant retail services for air conditioner sales. The initiative aims to extend service coverage to 13,000 offline Gree aircon stores by the end of July, enabling customers to complete the entire process from old unit removal to new unit delivery and installation in as little as half a day after placing an order.

Unlike small home appliances, air cons require additional services after being delivered, including the removal of the old unit and the installation of the new one. This places high demands on the service and management capabilities of manufacturers and retailers that provide instant retail.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione