AI pre-placement, one-stop completion of delivery, installation and old product take-back — we tried the new experience of buying large items on Tmall
By Wang Yi
The annual Double 11 shopping festival is coming again. After attending several Tmall Double 11 press conferences, I find the trend this year is rather different.
In previous years, the stage focused most on discount intensity and delivery speed, while this year a large proportion of the agenda is dedicated to "services" for the first time.
For large-sized commodities in home appliances and home decoration categories, Tmall has rolled out two new initiatives: "AI Place in My Home" and "Integrated Removal, Delivery and Installation".
One is designed for pre-purchase decision-making with AI real-scene placement trial, and the other provides full post-purchase fulfillment covering delivery, installation and old product removal, which can be completed by one single service worker in one door visit.
It does not sound like a particularly novel concept, but it precisely targets the two most discouraging pain points for online shopping of large-sized commodities: relying entirely on imagination before purchase, and relying on scattered fragmented services after purchase.
Especially for old houses that have been lived in for many years, the triviality of replacing old products is far more complicated than decorating a new house. To verify whether these two new services can really solve the troubles, we decided to conduct a full-link experience test.
01. "AI Place in My Home": "Place" the furniture in your shopping cart into your home in advance
It is cost-effective to buy large-sized commodities during Double 11, but for a long time, consumers usually fill their shopping carts with clothing, snacks or electronic products. When it comes to large items such as sofas, beds, refrigerators and TVs, many people stop at the step of "adding to shopping cart".
What prevents consumers from placing orders is often not the style, but the uncertainty of whether the items fit their home: does the color match the existing carpet? Will the size block the passage? By only looking at product pictures, you can only imagine the effect. For large items that cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, once you are dissatisfied after receiving them, the cost of returning and exchanging goods is extremely high.
At present, the "AI Place in My Home" function has been launched on the Taobao App. When you search for soft decoration categories such as sofas, carpets and coffee tables, the entry of "AI Place in My Home" will appear on the product detail page. You can also directly search for "Place in My Home" on Taobao to experience the function.
After entering "AI Place in My Home", upload a photo of your own living room and check the sofa option. After 5 seconds, the sofa will appear in the real scene of the living room in proportion, which not only automatically fits the position, but also supports free rotation and multi-angle viewing.
If you are not satisfied with the style, you can click the single product to change the style immediately. If you want to see the overall matching effect, you can also continue to add items such as coffee tables, carpets and hanging paintings, and the system will quickly generate the real-scene effect of the combination of multiple products.
In the past, to realize this cross-brand and cross-category mix-and-match preview, you either had to pay a designer for the effect drawing, or manually "make AI" by yourself - import the photos into a third-party tool, repeatedly adjust the prompt words, spend half an hour, and often get a "seller's show" with distorted proportions.
"AI Place in My Home" directly brings this set of AI + 3D technology into the Taobao detail page, integrating industry knowledge base, no need to write prompt words, what you see is what you get, turning the imagined matching into a visible real scene. Tmall introduces that this function has covered more than 20 home decoration and furniture categories such as sofas, beds, tables and chairs, and curtains, and will expand to electrical appliance categories in the next step.
By moving the "trial and error" process to the pre-purchase stage, consumers can have a clear expectation before placing an order, which removes the first psychological barrier for online shopping of large-sized commodities.
02. "Integrated Removal, Delivery and Installation": One single worker's door visit completes the delivery of new products, removal of old products, installation and waste disposal
After solving the problem of "how to choose", the real trouble of buying large-sized commodities often comes after payment.
Take the most typical scenario of "toilet replacement" as an example. The process in the past was very troublesome: you had to find someone to remove the old toilet first, and find a way to deal with the removed waste by yourself; after the new toilet is delivered to your home, you have to make another appointment for the installation worker to visit.
The most troublesome part is "disposing of the old items". Old toilets and old mattresses belong to large-sized construction waste, which are not accepted by the property management or the community garbage station, and you have to pay hundreds of yuan extra for the cleaning fee.
The newly launched "Integrated Removal, Delivery and Installation" service on Tmall solves all these troubles: one worker, one door visit, covers all processes including delivery, old product removal, installation and waste disposal. When you search for categories such as toilets, shower heads, bathroom heaters and clothes drying racks on Taobao, you can check this label to filter products that support this service.
Specifically, this service solves the five core pain points of buying large-sized commodities in the past through the "five ones" principle:
1. One-stop completion, eliminating multiple connections: In the past, delivery, old product removal, installation and waste disposal required 4 separate appointments, but now all can be done in one go.
2. One single worker takes full charge: In the past, you had to contact four different teams of workers, but now the "all-round service worker" takes full responsibility for delivering new products, installing and removing old products.
3. Unified standards, no fear of arbitrary price hikes: In the past, the charging standard was opaque, but now the price is clearly marked uniformly, and a double compensation commitment is provided for arbitrary overcharge.
4. One-click reservation, real-time progress visibility: In the past, you had to call repeatedly to inquire about the progress, but now you can make online appointments at any time and check the progress in real time.
5. One full warranty, 365-day repair for installation damage: In the past, scattered temporary workers only provided one-off services, but now the platform provides 365-day quality warranty, covering free repair for any damage caused by installation.
Tmall reveals that "Integrated Removal, Delivery and Installation" has now covered 80 core categories and 50 cities (with a coverage rate of over 95% in first-tier and second-tier cities). The operation of this system is supported by more than 100 warehouses across the country, more than 200 self-operated service stations, and all-round self-operated service workers who have received unified training.
When the tedious processes such as old product removal, installation and waste disposal are uniformly undertaken by the platform, consumers' worries when buying large-sized commodities are completely eliminated.
03. The decision-making factors for large-item consumption are being reordered
After experiencing these two services, a question arises: why does the e-commerce platform, which has always only been responsible for matching transactions, take on such "heavy" work before and after purchase?
At the Double 11 press conference, En Zhong, General Manager of Tmall Home Life, talked about the industry judgment behind this choice: the factors affecting consumption decision-making are being reordered. In addition to rich choices, fast delivery, good quality, low price and new products, high-quality service has become a must-have option. At present, for large-sized commodities such as home appliances and home decoration, product supply and prices are increasingly converging, and service has become the key to opening the gap between brands. "Sufficiently simple and certain experience will make consumers immediately replace the products they have been hesitating to change for a long time."
Following this logic, this round of infrastructure transformation by Tmall is not a single-point breakthrough, but a set of "service stratification" for different scenarios:
Large home appliances adopt the "integrated delivery and installation" model. For categories such as refrigerators and TVs whose old models have recycling value, there is no need to worry about waste disposal. The focus is to solve the problem of "separation of delivery and installation": the new product is delivered and installed at the same time, no second appointment is needed.
Small home appliances are arranged in flash purchase to meet immediate needs. For example, if you suddenly want to buy a small space heater in winter, the flash purchase service can deliver it as fast as within half an hour.
At the same time, online and offline channels are further connected. Tmall flagship stores of some home appliance brands are connected with offline physical stores, realizing the same products, same prices and same rights and interests.
04. The "required question" leading to the 10-trillion-yuan stock housing renewal market
The deeper reason why Tmall bets on service infrastructure at this node is the structural transformation of the upstream industry.
According to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, from January to August this year, the transaction proportion of second-hand houses across the country has officially exceeded that of new houses. Based on the base of 400 million stock houses nationwide, it is expected to generate a 10-trillion-yuan renewal consumption market every year.
En Zhong reveals that at present, in the overall Tmall home decoration and home appliances market, the proportion of orders for second-hand houses and partial renovation has approached 70%, while in the past, new houses accounted for 80%. The main battlefield of the industry has completely shifted from "new house occupancy" to "old house renewal".
Facing the huge renewal market, opening up the end fulfillment is no longer a bonus item, but a required question related to growth.
However, if a single brand wants to build a nationwide delivery and installation system on its own, it will not only require huge investment, but also make it difficult to balance the tidal manpower contradiction between idleness on ordinary days and explosive orders during large promotion periods. Tmall opens this set of "removal, delivery and installation" network as public infrastructure to merchants, which exactly makes up for the fulfillment shortcomings of brands.
The driving effect of this service system on business growth has been verified in some leading brands.
During this year's 618 shopping festival, HEGII, a domestic high-end bathroom brand, accessed Tmall's "Integrated Removal, Delivery and Installation" service. Its order volume reached 4.4 times of the previous level, and the positive review rate still rose to 90%. The transaction structure is also changing: the transaction volume of 88VIP members in the flagship store increased by 141%, the customer unit price increased by 13%, and the market share of toilets and shower heads increased.
Zou Jie, Vice President of HEGII, said that HEGII has professional service standards, but relying only on the brand's self-built network, it is challenging to achieve full coverage, fast response and controllable cost at the same time during peak periods. After switching to Tmall's integrated removal, delivery and installation service, the "use immediately after replacement" experience reduces order loss, releases more demand, and truly realizes the "1+1>2" effect for both the brand and the platform.
When service blockages are cleared, the suppressed segmented demands begin to show an explosive trend on the platform. Tmall's 618 data shows that in the home decoration category, the transaction volume of "transformable furniture" suitable for small apartment partial renovation skyrocketed by 900%, the transaction volume of "light customization" focusing on partial renovation increased 10 times, and the proportion of orders with "old product removal" demand in the toilet category is as high as 40%.
As En Zhong said, today's service is no longer just a passive after-sales guarantee, but a growth engine that directly drives business. "High-quality services can make users change from 'coming once' to 'coming continuously', turning a single transaction into long-term brand trust."
When buying a sofa, you can use AI to try the placement effect before placing an order; when replacing a toilet, the old product removal and installation can be completed in one go. These specific experience details used to be the most discouraging part of home decoration renewal. When all the troubles are guaranteed to be solved, those renewal ideas that have been stranded in the shopping cart will naturally be realized.