Audiences listen to the presentations by Yin Gang, operating director of mia.com, an e-commerce platform of baby products. It also launches indoor theme park for kids. (Provided to China Daily)
"On one hand, online retailers could open brick-and-mortar stores, and on the other hand, physical stores could depend on the supply chain advantage of e-commerce platforms."
Mia.com is dedicated to helping middle-class families access the best mom and baby products, such as diapers, baby formula, toys and garments for babies and toddlers from abroad, in anticipation of a baby boom in the wake of the relaxation of China's family-planning policy.
Liu added there is a lot of potential for growth in the market for baby and mom products.
"It is high time we expand to offline channels as well, as more than 50 percent of sales are generated by brick-and-mortar stores."
The Beijing-based company is now purchasing 40 theme parks owned by Yuyuto Shanghai Entertainment Facilities Co Ltd in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and some second-tier cities.
Mia.com said there is a natural advantage for them to develop children's theme park as the company has accumulated abundant big data resources from tens of millions of users, which can provide a large number of reference information about where to set up the parks.
For instance, the company can count the number of mia.com users in a given area and the ages of their children, and the distance of their residence to a particular shopping mall.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that mia.com has an eye on expanding its offline theme parks in third- and fourth-tiers cities, as the competition in the first-tier cities is increasingly fierce.
According to the Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys, the market for maternal and infant goods in China has witnessed rapid growth, reaching 2.7 trillion yuan ($430 billion) in 2017. The size is expected to reach 3 trillion yuan in 2018.
Daniel Wei, general manager of mia.com's offline business, said that in the past, indoor theme parks in China were homogenized, the customer experience was insufficient and the industry threshold was low.
He added that with the upgrade of consumption, there's growing demand for high-quality indoor theme parks or amusement parks in line with the international standard.
China's second-largest e-commerce platform JD said its offline franchise operating organization JD Baby Beiquan aims to open 5,000 stores in the next three years, with its sales revenue surpassing 100 billion yuan by 2020.
The brick-and-mortar stores will utilize JD's advantages in big data, supply chain and cutting-edge technologies to offer integrated solutions covering intelligent retailing, early education, amusement and prenatal and postnatal guidance for mothers.
Moreover, Redbaby, a maternity and infant goods e-commerce website owned by Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, is speeding up its expansion in offline stores. It is estimated the total number of its brick-and-mortar stores will reach 503 by 2020.
The newly added stores will integrate the sales of infant goods with the children's entertainment facilities, and expand into the third- and fourth-tier cities, Suning said.
"Parents often take their children out to play at weekends, and it is very natural that some maternal and infant goods e-commerce platforms have layouts in children's amusement facilities considering offline consumption upgrading, especially the strong demands from third- and fourth-tier cities," said Cao Lei, head of China's E-Commerce Research Center.
Cao added this is a trend for the maternal and children's supplies industry. As the children's parks are heavy-assets projects, the franchises should have abundant capital.
"The online retailers should have strict requirements for franchise investors, and pay attention to their brands protection."
Zhou Changqing, the general manager of real estate services provider RET's Shanghai company, said e-commerce platforms engaged in selling maternal and infant goods own a specific customer base and unique sales channel, and could leverage that to provide comprehensive services and products.
