Tmall Underground

Tmall has launched a public trial for Tmall Underground, an alternative virtual space featuring pop-up stores from popular subculture brands targeted at the trendy youth.

On their Taobao or Tmall app, users can unlock this feature and enter the exclusive zone by searching for #TmallUnderground in Chinese.

Different from typical pop-up concepts, this virtual pop-up space is a gaming interactive zone built for long-term operation and expansion. Travelling to Tmall Underground is in itself a suspenseful journey, from the password that is required for entry to the brief adrenaline rush when the user is visually dropped into an alternative dimension where an open door beckons. Stepping into an immersive, gamelike world of fantasy that only few know, users will find the hottest youth brands whose store designs have also taken on surreal sci-fi looks, inspired by each brand’s logo and personality.

Just as generic shopping malls are not the top choices for consumers who identify with underground subcultures, a mass-market platform like Tmall must create a space with distinctive flair and personality to attract younger consumers and their favourite brands. Building a space with its own character also makes it easier to run more targeted or personalised branding activities with a ready pool of trendy consumers with whom brands can test new concepts and innovative products.

Pop-up spaces, both online and offline, will be a significant element of a brand’s innovation process. While physical spaces are popular for creating multi-sensorial brand experiences, online pop-up spaces will be growing as experimental grounds for the digital transformation of bricks-and-mortar brands, as well as a critical part of brands’ omnichannel customer engagement strategies. Pop-up spaces can be incubators for exciting technologies, as they also collect invaluable data on the participants in this space, when brands experiment with different tools to create more personalised experiences for their

youthful clientele.