E-buying A to Z from local shops

Services, retail intersect on new platforms, boost O2O model and consumer experience

Zhang Chenlin, 31, a bank employee in Beijing, prefers to use mobile apps to buy, well, almost everything these days－lunch, dinner, groceries, flowers, fruits, cosmetics, medicine, magazines, accessories, household stuff, you name it.

Particularly on days when she is unwilling to dine out with colleagues on work days, the apps come to her rescue time and again. In about 20 minutes after placing an online order for lunch, a deliveryman of Ele.me, a third-party online food delivery platform, materializes with Sichuan spicy diced chicken, Mapo spicy bean curd and a bowl of rice.

"With a simple tap on my mobile phone, I can also order daily necessities like towels, tissues, shampoo as well as medicine," Zhang said. "I don't need to go to supermarket after work, and these commodities are delivered to my home or office within half-an-hour. This is really very convenient."