Have you ever heard of Scenario Based Retail...?

I first read about this term in the latest issue of the Tech Buzz China newsletter, and it is a good example of what we can learn from #DigitalChina. Because Chinese companies often use growth strategies that differ from our usual "focus on one thing and scale it" approach.

Instead, Chinese brands often leverage existing assets to build diverse businesses with symbiotic relationships. Rather than isolated silos, they create interconnected ecosystems - like what Atour Lifestyle Holdings Ltd. has built.

Atour Group is a Chinese hotel chain that is known for its emphasis on branding, customer loyalty, and quality - offering rooms with high-end beds and cosmetics.

And they have cleverly built a retail business around precisely these products, which can now be purchased by guests right in their room: order something you see by simply taking a picture with your mobile phone, and it will be conveniently delivered to your home. Or you take it just with you.

Atour calls this approach "scenario-based retail" - turning hotel rooms into immersive showrooms for selling products. It has made Atour one of China's largest suppliers of pillows.

This approach would probably work not only for the likes of Motel One Group or 25hours Hotels, but for any business where customers stay longer and have time to really experience a product.  (Btw, if it works, don't scale it to the point where customers start to hate it. You know, like #RetailMedia... 😉)

More broadly, this case offers valuable lessons in how to grow a business beyond focus and silo thinking in general.

Read more on Atour in the current issue of TechBuzz China.