Muji combines with JD's 7Fresh for new offline retail outlet
JD and Muji have become the latest retailers to collaborate in offering a transformative offline shopping experience.
Their new fresh food complex brings Muji's daily groceries and the fresh food offered by JD's offline fresh food chain 7Fresh under one roof.
It's also the first of its kind in the country to combine the merchandising of Muji and the fresh food and catering services of 7Fresh.
Setting up a format where users can purchase leisure items as well as food and beverage marks the latest effort by online retailers to appeal to customer demands for new ways of shopping.
"It marks the latest retail format following the unveiling of Muji's hotel, canteen and convenience store," said Shao Tianyi, marketing executive of MUJI (Shanghai) Co Ltd.
Similar store formats will be opened in the city in the next one or two years, according to Huang Lin, head of JD 7Fresh's Collaboration Department.
New retail formats have prospered in Shanghai as retailers are rushing to the city with debut stores to introduce new brands and shopping experiences.
People pick up fresh meat from a counter in Muji's outlet in the Hall of the Sun at Ruihong Tiandi that features an areas of fresh food. It is a new trial by the Japanese chain store in partnership with JD.com's 7Fresh.
In the first half of this year, a total of 513 brands and retailers have made their debut in Shanghai and the number of debut stores and flagship stores continued to rank first among domestic cities.
Located in the Hall of the Sun in Ruihong Tiandi complex, the new Muji 7Fresh store serves residents in Ruihong Xincheng community with offerings ranging from fresh fruit to ready-to-heat and packaged meals. It also offers delivery within 3 kilometres of the store.
Muji's shop area, with about 1200 square meters, has a larger proportion of frozen food and ice cream than other stores as well as its apparel line MUJI Labo and MUJI Walker.
The supermarket area hosts 8,000 types of products in a simply decorated 3,000 square meters of space.
It also hosts specialty foods from Hokkaido and seasonal cooking ingredients.
Zheng Feng, general manager of 7Fresh, said the company plans to explore more development opportunities in the city.
