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With a map in hand, shopping is a breeze. Of course, this is not an ordinary paper map placed on the shelf at the service desk, but an electronic map that can update brands at any time, search on demand, distinguish floors, and release new ways of playing. This electronic map allows consumers to quickly locate merchants, accelerate the achievement of purposeful consumption, and directly save the time cost of consulting customer service staff. Electronic maps have become a carrier for many shopping malls to compete in service.

This electronic map is what practitioners call an OMO three-dimensional marketing network. "An OMO three-dimensional marketing network that integrates online and offline is a must-have product for current commercial projects." Chen Congrong, chairman of Qisheng Technology Group Co., Ltd., said that only more detailed spatial touchpoint perception can match and meet the multi-level experience needs of consumers in shopping malls. Recently, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily visited Qisheng Technology Group (hereinafter referred to as "Qisheng") to explore new technologies that go beyond the R&D center and give consumers new experiences in life.

Live map becomes shopping guide

As a commercial landmark in Beijing's CBD, China World Mall offers a wide range of shopping, dining, entertainment and other diversified options, but the intricate traffic flow within the mall also discourages many consumers.

Many brand stores are located on different floors and in different areas. For consumers who are not familiar with the layout, it takes a certain amount of time and effort to find the brand store they like. Especially during peak hours, when there is a large flow of people and many stores, it is easier for consumers to feel confused.

In order to solve the above problems, Guomao needs a navigation system that can be updated at any time to provide a clear guide map. This electronic map can help consumers better understand the internal layout of the mall and the location of stores in a timely manner, making it convenient for consumers to check and locate at any time. This guide map is like a "living map" that marks the store dynamics at any time.

As the provider of indoor navigation applications for China World Mall, Qisheng racked its brains to make this map. "The China World Mall project was one of the biggest challenges faced by the R&D team that year." Chen Congrong revealed that the complex terrain of China World Mall, the dazzling array of brand stores, and the bustling crowds made it particularly difficult to draw a navigation map.

In order to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the navigation map, the project team sent several testers to conduct field tests. For a month, the testers spent almost every day in China World Mall, shuttling through every corner, measuring the entire mall and drawing every path, and finally accurately marking the location of each brand store and the direction of each channel on the navigation screen.

Shanghai Xuhui Vanke Plaza, which just opened in June, is a POD complex where Shanghai Vanke explores multiple complex functions in the future. In a commercial volume far exceeding the conventional size, how to create a multi-level "space experience" scene is crucial. To this end, Qisheng introduced its technology MallNav smart screen. The so-called MallNav, the full English name is Mall Navigation, which is literally translated into shopping mall navigation in Chinese. In this project, multiple smart screens at fixed points were built, and combined with WeChat applets, the service content was expanded from map navigation to membership marketing, content marketing and merchant operations.

With the popularity of indoor navigation, Qisheng's MallNav smart screen has also gradually entered major shopping malls. According to reports, as of now, Qisheng MallNav smart screen and smart commercial operation closed-loop solution have served more than 50% of the top 300 shopping malls or park commercial entities in China, including Vanke, China Resources Vanguard, CapitaLand Group, Wangfujing Group, Everbright Ashmore, Joy City, AEON, and Sun Hung Kai.

New technology implemented in half a year

The indoor electronic navigation of shopping malls can help consumers find the stores they want to visit more quickly and accurately, which has also accelerated the emergence of more purposeful consumption in shopping malls and saved the time cost of consultation by shopping mall customer service staff to a certain extent. However, shopping malls that use this technology have not yet been fully popularized, and the rapid replacement of brand stores in shopping malls also requires this technology to be continuously upgraded and updated.

Behind the convenience of consumers finding stores, it took half a year for the MallNav smart screen to go from technical research and development to implementation. Beijing Business Daily reporters learned that in Suzhou Center, the indoor navigation system is the core content of the iterative upgrade of the project, of which more than 600 merchants’ information needs to be determined and adjusted. During this implementation process, the Qisheng team needs to patrol the venue overnight according to the actual situation, check the point information and map information, optimize and adjust the background data and map editor, avoid navigation errors, etc. The entire adjustment and optimization cycle lasts for half a year.

Chen Congrong admitted that the introduction of new technologies into shopping malls is a gradual and dynamic process. For example, two months before the project starts, the navigation team will complete the V2.0 version of 3D map editing based on the new needs of the shopping mall.

After the technology is introduced, subsequent maintenance and supervision are essential. Chen Congrong revealed that after the indoor navigation system of the shopping mall is introduced, the team will continue to provide customers with continuous basic services, including remote operation and maintenance of equipment, regular data backup, etc. "The remote monitoring capability can solve more than 90% of operation and maintenance problems, such as remote screenshots, remote machine switching, remote volume adjustment, etc. We will also deliver these capabilities to customers." Chen Congrong introduced.

The shopping center itself is a complex complex, involving group management, project management, hundreds of merchants, thousands of consumers, etc. Indoor electronic navigation is only one link between people, goods and places. Just as Shanghai Jiatinghui Shopping Center has connected offline scenes and online operations, consumers can participate in offline interactive marketing activities organized by the shopping center through interactive marketing services and MallNav smart screens during their flow in the mall, become private domain members of the shopping center during the game, and obtain discount coupons on their mobile phones, which guide consumers to the participating brand merchants for verification, forming a closed loop between people, goods and places.

Yang Qingsong, Secretary-General of the China Department Store Association, pointed out that digitalization and intelligence have realized full-touchpoint marketing for enterprises and achieved the connection between people, goods and places at a specific time. For example, smart navigation and smart parking in shopping malls are a close link between people and places, and digital cards and coupons and verification are a close link between people and goods.

At the same time, the application of digital technology and the development of the digital economy can form full-link collaboration within the industry, including direct procurement, self-operation, and joint operations, realize the connection of different models and multiple supply chains, and omni-channel integration, and realize offline and online inventory integration and customer consistency, including live broadcasts, mini programs, and communities.

Use the system to predict market demand

Indoor navigation in shopping malls is becoming popular, and more and more large shopping malls are introducing this technology. Its function is not only navigation, but also the transformation of all digital screens in the venue, and it can become a carrier for membership services and marketing activities.

The popularization of indoor navigation still faces many challenges for both technical parties and shopping mall operators. Chen Congrong pointed out that this technology is a customized product, and the technical challenges are even greater. How to adapt to all systems requires high software adaptability. Software adaptation requirements range from Windows XP to Windows 11, from Android 4.0 to Android 14, and even Linux system adaptation requirements. Therefore, MallNav smart screens are adapted to development boards ranging from a few hundred yuan to servers costing tens of thousands of yuan during research and development, and the screens are also adapted to various requirements such as single screens, multiple screens, and spliced ​​screens. These hundreds and thousands of attempts are just to maintain a consistent user experience on different terminals.

At present, positioning and navigation technology is relatively mature and can be realized through Bluetooth, GPS, geomagnetic and other technologies. Beijing Business Daily reporters visited many shopping malls and found that the differences in positioning systems basically exist in the polishing of interface operation details and the connection with marketing systems and external systems. For example, the more mainstream guide systems will integrate membership systems, reverse car search systems, video systems and ordering and queuing systems. Chen Congrong said that customized needs and common needs should be distinguished in different projects. Common needs will become the public capabilities of the public platform when they are precipitated, which will be conducive to the subsequent continuous upgrading of technology and become a universal solution for specific markets.

As technology is constantly upgrading and demands are constantly changing, the company's organizational capabilities also need to be continuously iterated in order to keep up with market demands. Chen Congrong said that some newly developed products and technologies, including the use of AI to improve the operational efficiency of public accounts and marketing activities, will be actively promoted to customers. There was a certain cost of trial and error in the early days, which was necessary because only through continuous technological innovation can we better serve retailers and make retail digitalization easier.

Yang Qingsong believes that new technologies have a wide range of upgrade space in physical commerce. For example, as consumers increasingly pursue convenient shopping, smart navigation becomes increasingly important. Especially for large commercial complexes, indoor navigation is also gaining more and more attention based on the increasingly mature smart parking. Some combine AI technology to generate digital stores, which is expected to form a fusion of digital goods, digital people, and digital stores.

"Currently, Qisheng is embedding new applications such as AI large models, digital humans, content generation, and voice interaction into the MallNav smart screen. Now the frequency has increased to about once a month, with the technical team carrying out new iterations and upgrades," Chen Congrong revealed.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Zhuolan