‘Real life shopping’ enters the online experience

27 March 2007

‘Real life shopping’ enters the online retail experience

Browsing, chatting, gossiping – all the things we love about shopping in the real world have never been available in online retail – until now.

New Zealand’s latest online retail experience, www.themallplus.com, has just introduced socialising to online shopping. You can now set up your own 3D representation of yourself (called an avatar) and so can your friends. You can see yourself and your friends in the virtual shopping mall.

The things that make shopping so pleasurable - comparing purchases, asking someone if they like what you’ve chosen, and having a ‘coffee’ break when all that shopping becomes too much – are now part of www.themallplus.com. Never before could you do all this online.

Shoppers can talk to other shoppers while they shop. They communicate by ‘public chat’, which can be seen by all shoppers, or by chatting privately with friends through a virtual ‘telephone call’.

With ‘you’ and ‘them’ in the virtual world, you really can shop with friends online.

“Online purchasing has previously not been able to get beyond its functional image and lack of human interaction. Normal online purchasing has simply been about buying,” says CEO of parent company The Street, Nigel Kirkpatrick.

“www.themallplus.com is using the platform of highly functional technology so that people can enjoy the experience of shopping with their friends.

“Online shopping now contains that all important social factor, courtesy of your avatar. It is convenient, safe, flexible but, most importantly, it is fun and social.”

Since the launch of www.themallplus.com in December, the mall has attracted additional retailers, with ten new shops joining the mall in March. Visits to www.themallplus.com grew by 50% from January to February following an excellent launch month in December.

www.themallplus.com is managed by parent company, The Street, based in Dunedin.

ENDS

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