Mitsui Shopping Park &mall: Mitsui Shopping Park’s Official Online Shopping Site
Evolution into a Shopping Site for a Wide Range of Lifestyles;
Membership Tops Three Million
Accelerating retail complex omni-channeling and use of ICT technologies

December 11, 2020
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

Tokyo, Japan, December 11, 2020—Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., a leading global real estate company headquartered in Tokyo, and Mitsui Fudosan Retail Management Co., Ltd. recently announced that Mitsui Shopping Park &mall (“&mall”), the official online shopping site of Mitsui Shopping Park managed by the two companies, has acquired over three million members following continued expansion since its opening in November 2017.

&mall started with around 200 shops that initially offered primarily fashion products, but has more recently expanded to some 350 shops that handle many product categories—the same as real-world complexes like Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport—including not only fashion but also cosmetics, home interior products, general merchandise, and baby and kids products.

It has evolved into an online retail site that handles a whole range of lifestyles while also enhancing its secondary functions through use of ICT technologies.

In addition, &mall provides services that reflect its status as an online retail site that is integrated with real-world shopping complexes and working to create new sales opportunities for stores. From the time services were initially launched, the site has worked to coordinate with real-world complexes, and vice-versa, through measures for defective products at real-world stores, moving customers from online to real-world stores, online sales of store inventory, promotions for real-world stores with information from store staff, and other forms of promotional support.

At real-world shopping complexes as well, ICT use is being accelerated for omni-channelization linked with &mall, and an environment is being created that allows customers to shop with peace of mind even during the coronavirus crisis.

The Mitsui Fudosan Group will continue working to expand the forms and options available to customers for shopping through the utilization of various ICT technologies, pivoting on both its real-world shopping complexes and &mall.

Key Points of this Press Release

• &mall members surpass three million
• Lineup of products and categories handled by &mall enhanced and expanded; has become an online retail site handling a whole range of lifestyles
• Further promotion of omni-channelization for &mall and real-world complexes, as well as increased convenience and comfort, through use of ICT

■Use of ICT at &mall

1. Use of live commerce
2. Showrooming events
3. &mall DESK, an &mall service counter, established at real-world complexes
4. Customer service through chatbot utilization
5. Omni-channel sales of store inventory at &mall using RFID

■Use of ICT at real-world complexes

1. Mobile ordering at food courts using the Order by Smartphone function on the Mitsui Shopping Park app
2. Expansion of QR code settlement

&mall members surpass three million; has become an online retail site proposing a whole range of lifestyles

Initially, &mall primarily handled fashion products, but it subsequently expanded its lineup to not only fashion but also home interior products, general merchandise, cosmetics, sports, kids and baby products, and more, just like Mitsui Shopping Park’s real-world complexes, evolving into a highly comprehensive “one-stop” online retail site that handles a whole range of lifestyles. Going forward, &mall will continue to meet customer needs and provide a wide range of shopping experiences.

Use of ICT at &mall

&mall is enhancing and expanding secondary functions through the use of ICT technologies in order to provide customers with a more convenient and pleasant shopping experience.

(1)Use of live commerce

Live commerce is a new form of shopping that enables two-way communication between customers and shop staff even when customers are at home. Mitsui Shopping Park’s first live commerce initiative began streaming on December 14, 2020 at around 25 stores in 6 shopping complexes total. When customers see something they want on the live commerce video, it can be easily purchased by clicking a link on the live video and accessing &mall. By enabling customers to freely choose where they want to shop, the wall between real-world complex and online shopping comes down and customers are provided a more enriching shopping experience.
Going forward, live commerce will be used to strengthen the connection between shop staff and customers to further raise the appeal of Mitsui Shopping Park. Expanding its scope to other shopping complexes is also being considered with a view to full-fledged establishment as a new sales channel.

< Live commerce streaming site:https://mitsui-shopping-park.com/lalaport/special/shop-movie-live/ >

(2)Showrooming events

Showrooming events are being held at shopping complexes for customers who want to look at the actual products but buy them online. The events are part of the omni-channelization of real-world complexes using &mall. Since the launch of &mall, around 30 showrooming events have been held.

At showrooming events, products normally sold on &mall are displayed along with online exclusives and pre-order items. Customers can actually try on the products at the event, and purchase them on &mall by picking out the item and scanning its QR code. The events propose new forms of online shopping that make use of real-world complexes.

(3)&mall DESK, an &mall service counter, established at real-world complexes

&mall is developing &mall DESK service counters (a total of 19 at present) at real-world Mitsui Shopping Park complexes nationwide where customers can pick up products they’ve purchased

Being able to try on products on the spot has been well received by customers, and the &mall DESK pick-up rate is increasing, a service that truly leverages the characteristics of an online retail site integrated with real-world shopping complexes.

When customers pick up purchased products at an &mall DESK, they can request to receive the product in a cardboard box or have it put in a shopping bag. At some locations (LaLaport TOKYO-BAY and LaLaport YOKOHAMA), there is a free gift wrapping service, and efforts will be made going forward to further expand services.

Pick up products purchased on &mall with no shipping charges

Try on purchased products on the spot (no return charges)

(4) Customer service through chatbot utilization

To handle inquiries from customers, &mall has introduced a chatbot with a machine learning-based AI engine as a new inquiry response channel alongside the conventional phone, email and FAQ channels.

The chatbot is an automated response system for questions from customers that come via text; the content of the questions is deciphered by the system and the customer is engaged with in a chat-like format. The AI learns frequently asked questions and response patterns in order to achieve high-precision customer support. Use of the chatbot allows &mall to respond to customer questions and concerns 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without any waiting.

Introducing the chatbot has also been effective in limiting the number of inquiries that come via phone and email.

Inquiries that cannot be adequately answered with AI are resolved by connecting the customer to a live chat with an operator. In this way &mall is enhancing the customer’s experience and expanding the scope of its digital customer service.

(5)　Omni-channel sales of store inventory at &mall using RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that reads and writes information on contactless RFID tags using radio waves sent from reader antennas. There are multiple RFID reader antennas installed inside the store, and they automatically read information on RFID tags attached to products, which makes it possible to automatically create digital data from in-store product inventory information.

Rendering of RFID tag reading

Mitsui Fudosan conducted a pilot test from March 2020 on reading in-store products using RFID jointly with BEAMS Co., Ltd. (“BEAMS”) and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., and based on the results of this test, it was confirmed that RFID is effective for use at actual stores. The next step was to install the systems for actual use (testing has since been completed).

The test involved installing multiple RFID reader antennas in the store and verifying that digital data could be created in real time from in-store product inventory information, and a mechanism was created for automatically linking to &mall each time product information is read. BEAMS began selling its in-store products on &mall in October using this new mechanism.

In-store product inventory information can be automatically displayed on &mall and the products sold on the site, so customers can view and purchase products in places outside the store. Also, the system gives stores a new sales channel, so they can now efficiently sell products that are in stock in stores. (Omni-channel sales of store inventory using RFID) Unlike conventional online retailing, the site can sell products that are currently in stores, not just products stocked in warehouses, so the system is drawing attention as a means of integrating store inventory while emphasizing sales at real-world stores. Also, sales channels for store inventory are expanded, so the system is expected to effectively function as a countermeasure for the drop-off in sales at real-world stores caused by the recent COVID-19 crisis. Multiple stores and brands other than BEAMS have also decided to conduct omni-channel sales of store inventory products on &mall using RFID.

Use of ICT at real-world complexes

To enable customers to be able to shop with greater convenience and greater peace of mind at real-world shopping complexes even during COVID-19, various initiatives are being conducted using ICT technologies. Going forward, services will continue to be enhanced and expanded that utilize digital at real-world complexes.

(1)　Mobile ordering at food courts using the Order by Smartphone function on the Mitsui Shopping Park app

The Order by Smartphone mobile ordering function for food courts that started at LaLaport EBINA in April 2019 has been expanded to two additional complexes as of September 2020, LAZONA Kawasaki Plaza and Urban Dock LaLaport TOYOSU.

Order by Smartphone makes it possible to select, order and pay for food court products using the official Mitsui Shopping Park app, and affords customers the convenience of being able to order from their table without standing in line at the restaurant. This also makes it easier for family members or friends to order off the menus of different restaurants, which makes food court dining that much more pleasant.

A function was also added to the app this past fall to allow food court products to be ordered as takeout, in light of increased demand associated with heighted awareness of COVID-19 prevention measures and people spending more time at home. When takeout is selected using Order by Smartphone, the customer’s food court order is provided in sealable takeout containers rather than on trays.

(2)　Expansion of QR code settlement

As of December 1, 2020, three additional QR code settlement services can be used when shopping at Mitsui Shopping Park, so now a total of eight settlement services are available as payment options. The services can be used at all Mitsui Shopping Park complexes, which number around 70 nationwide and include LaLaport and Mitsui Outlet Park complexes, making shopping even more convenient.