The advancement of the Internet changed the way young people in their 20s and 30s interact with each other and make purchases. With the advent of Taobao (the most popular online shopping platform in China), customers learned how to shop online, which changed their purchasing pattern forever. Most customers enjoyed online shopping itself and adapted well to a new way of making payments. The biggest beneficiary is Alipay launched by Alibaba. Alipay is now an essential part of Chinese people's lives.

 Everyone, even those who do not like it very much, have experienced online shopping at least once and as it happened, online shopping became deeply integrated into our lives without our knowing it. Customers are involved in the virtual world called the Internet and sometimes the Internet holds sway over the real life.

 On November 1, 2016, Taobao Buy+ first introduced its VR (Virtual Reality) shopping channel, which soon became a sensation among WeChat users. Thanks to VR, customers can now walk through, for example, a virtual Japanese drug store Matsumoto Kiyoshi, or a broad ranch in Australia. Such an innovation of Buy+ brought new insight to everyone involved and marked a new era in the history of online shopping.

 The VR shopping experience is a whole new way of fulfilling the shopping needs of customers. The usual method of online shopping was fast, convenient and cost effective. But because product information was provided mostly using pictures, customers could not touch or see the product. For example, it was impossible to tell if clothes would look good or fit them. VR shopping, however, ended this struggle with a single blow. Customers no longer get into a panic after actually receiving the clothes bought online.

 Here are two of my viewpoints about the development and future of online VR shopping. First, a combination of GPS, Apple's iBeacon, Bluetooth and smartphones along with a virtual display synced to in-store shelves will provide a more special shopping experience for customers. Let's look into Tilt Brush, which is a VR brush launched by Google last year. Users can use the 2D control tool, Tilt Brush, to paint the space all around them. Because the VR headset, Oculus Rift DK2, has GPS, users can paint by simply moving their head. In other words, you can paint in 3D with VR. It is not only paint, but light can also be used to draw as you want.

 The second is whether or not VR online shopping will continue its upward trend after the successful launch of Buy+ last year. Many people use Taobao but not all of them use VR. VR online shopping was unveiled last year and it is still in its infancy. The greatest challenge right now is to win over more users and keep them interested in VR shopping. In the end, it should be able to replace the traditional way of shopping, in full. It will take a long time, but once its innovation successfully intrigues enough users, I am sure that it will become the most popular way of shopping.

 This first column was a brief introduction to VR shopping. The next column will be even more interesting and useful. Enjoy the Spring days!