Ditch your phones and computers, listen to products speak, and complete a Taobao order with a simple gesture of ‘grabbing items mid-air’? Such scenarios are no longer exclusive to sci-fi movies. Recently, Taobao announced its foray into MR (Mixed Reality) shopping, sparking widespread discussion. Is ‘Taobao Buy+’ the future of mainstream shopping? Is Taobao laying the groundwork for technology 5-10 years ahead? Undoubtedly, from PC-based Taobao in 2003 to mobile Taobao in 2013, and now ‘Taobao Buy+’ (Taobao MR) in 2018, Taobao has never hesitated to reinvent itself.
With ‘Taobao Buy+,’ a single gesture completes your order. In the mixed reality world, Taobao is no longer just an app but truly becomes a way of life. Put on a smart headset, activate ‘Taobao Buy+,’ and the world before you will be enhanced with digital information. In an iFashion clothing store, a glance at the clothes on a model summons Taobao influencer Yang Wenhao. He appears beside you in holographic form, not only performing a dance but also，as if he were there in person. In the Forbidden City Taobao store, a casual scan of the emperors’ portraits on the wall makes them seem ‘enchanted,’ engaging you in conversation. At the 2018 Taobao Maker Festival, Taobao created a 300-square-meter MR experience space, featuring a shopping street and three themed stores (Taobao ACG Store, Taobao iFashion Store, and Forbidden City Taobao IP Store), each showcasing different functionalities of ‘Taobao Buy+.’ Breaking free from the confines of a three-inch screen, ‘Taobao Buy+’ breathes life into everything. Its defining features are ‘transforming interaction’ and ‘enhancing the experience.’ It’s not just about visual satisfaction but also about making. For example, when a consumer opens a ‘Princess Notebook’ in the Forbidden City Taobao store, a full 3D animation introduces the product, accompanied by a ‘Taobao Buy+’ UI interface displaying ‘Ask Everyone’ and price details. A simple hand gesture adds the item to the cart. ‘Taobao Buy+’ offers more than just shopping—it’s also about entertainment. Beyond ‘grabbing items mid-air,’ it boasts powerful spatial. When consumers view on the wall, ‘Taobao BuyUnlike VR (Virtual Reality) technology, which can create a shopping scene from scratch, MR (Mixed Reality) technology allows users to experience both real-world environments and digital enhancements. In the world of Taobao Buy+, the physical world remains the foundation, while mixed reality technology serves as an omnipresent layer of rendering. It brings products to life and enables interactions between users, products, and live streamers, transforming shopping into a dynamic experience. For instance, in the iFashion store, users can use MR glasses to activate information displayed on clothing racks, summoning a holographic Taobao influencer to explain product details.
As the world’s first consumer-grade MR product, Taobao Buy+ represents a groundbreaking collaboration between Taobao and Microsoft. Taobao is responsible for the end-to-end product design, integrating MR search, ordering, display, and interaction, while leveraging Alibaba’s vast e-commerce data. Microsoft contributes high-quality MR infrastructure, including the HoloLens hardware. A comparison of Taobao Buy+’s pre-rendered and post-rendered views highlights its innovative approach. This initiative is a forward-looking experiment in retail, paving the way for shopping experiences in the next 5 to 10 years—a feat only Taobao can achieve. From VR Buy+ in 2016 to Taobao Buy+ in 2018, Taobao has continuously pushed boundaries in new shopping methods and retail scenarios, advancing technologies like 3D rendering and spatial positioning. This year’s offline Taobao Buy+ experience demonstrates its complexity. In a 300-square-meter space, dozens of devices operate simultaneously, allowing consumers to move freely while maintaining an immersive virtual reality experience. Why does Taobao invest in such resource-intensive projects? The answer lies in creating real-world consumer scenarios where users interact with both physical and virtual elements, fostering invaluable technological insights and shaping the future of shopping. Taobao Buy+ is the world’s first consumer-grade MR product, redefining the boundaries of shopping. Whether online or offline, virtual or real, it presents a new paradigm. Taobao is no longer just a shopping platform but an omnipresent life assistant, offering not only products but also content, interaction, and everything needed for daily life.This is the future of Taobao, and also the future of online shopping.
