‘Pink Love’ – a promotion launched early this year by Shanghai K11 Art Mall – drove a 33 per cent increase in sales and boosted traffic by 11 per cent.

The event also attracted more than 30,000 new members to the shopping centre’s loyalty program and generated nearly $200 million worth of media coverage.

Pink Love illustrates how innovation in mall marketing can drive offline business in a market where online shopping is increasingly gaining volume and share.

As Internet Plus takes the world by storm, traditional retail businesses that are unfit and cannot adapt will be eliminated. Those who are adept enough to seize new opportunities and possibilities, however, will become the leaders of the next era.

Consumers in this era of online shopping are very focused on having a unique experience and enjoyment as they shop. So how can physical retail stores explore their business potential and develop their appeal while keeping consumers coming back? Pink Love proved a solution.

Under the theme “Pink Saves the World” the event made waves across the city, drawing tech- and social media-savvy millennials through word-of-mouth engagement, creating a buzz that enhanced the event’s exposure.

A crossover collaboration retail operation

As the world’s first retail brand dedicated to blending together elements of art, people and nature, Shanghai K11 sought to demonstrate its ability to innovate. During Pink Love, Shanghai K11 Art Mall used its floor space and design to anchor the theme, showcasing  aesthetics with a visually stunning water curtain entrance and glass dome. It was also the world’s first colour-themed, all-purpose shopping space.

While most shopping venues have been busy scrambling for a unique selling point that can draw in business, Shanghai K11’s built-in unique selling point has already drawn a lot of traffic.

Shanghai K11’s thematic decorations for Pink Love included pink paper airplanes in the first-floor atrium, a pink tulip garden on the third floor, and a variety of other space designs throughout the Art Mall. To accompany the physical artistry, Shanghai K11 organised an array of pink-themed activities, including a star-studded Grand Prix Pink Party campaign kick-off, online and offline Pink Intern activity and the Pink Tour Bus, all of which attracted both a very high amount of shopper participation and coverage from more than 100 media outlets.

During the campaign, Shanghai K11 Art Mall also launched a pink product range featuring fashion and home products, all with aesthetic designs and practical use to appeal to shoppers.

Offline promotion activities often fail to make a lasting impact. To avoid this pitfall, Shanghai K11 collaborated with Asian Dope Boys, a music brand by avant-garde Chinese artist Chen Tianzhuo, on a project that showcased the Art Mall’s art and artisanal spirit. Titled “Club Intimacy”, this project offered shoppers a memorable, exclusive, time-limited “spicy pink sensory interactive space”, successfully upgrading the pink decorations with an artistic touch.

The Art Mall’s lively, psychedelic visual effects went viral on the internet. Its ultra-pink washroom, for example, offered a never-before-seen in Shanghai experience, allowing shoppers to enter a mysterious, dreamlike pink land. Through Club Intimacy, Shanghai K11 used images, sound, scents and lights to create a unique multisensory experience. 

Exploring novelty to lead global retail trends

Adrian Cheng Chi-Kong, founder of K11, once said: “Our company focuses on The Artisanal Movement, bringing unique, bespoke experiences to shopping and adding value to the cities in which we operate.”

Fast Company includes K11 in The World’s Most Innovative Companies 2018 (China), alongside the likes of Alibaba and Tencent. K11 is the only company on the list that operates under a hybrid retail concept, and the only offline company. As Fast Company said, “K11 brings together the interactive and engaging nature of a shopping mall, the captivating beauty of an art exhibit, and the demand for environmental consciousness”.

K11 is dedicated to continuing its artisanal journey. The Art Mall continuously interacts with its shoppers all year round. Its mall-museum hybrid concept subtly and interactively blends together art exhibits, cultural experiences, greenery and retail to connect people and deliver a distinctive shopping experience.