It is the final day of the year and many may have been looking forward to the New Year’s Eve fireworks show at selected spots throughout the country. In Klang Valley, one such location is Mutiara Damansara which is usually hosted by IPC Shopping Centre or some might know the mall by its former name, Ikano Power Centre together with its neighbours The Curve and eCurve.
However, 2020 is not an ordinary year due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the threat of the virus is still at large throughout the country. Hence, all NYE events that involved mass gatherings have been prohibited by the authorities which would naturally affect the one at Mutiara Damansara as well.
That didn’t stop IPC from welcoming 2021 through its own way though. Instead of its usual NYE event, the mall decided to move the celebration to the online realm by having a shopping fiesta that is being anchored by a 12-hour Facebook Live session on its Facebook page since 12:30 PM today.
What made the online shopping fiesta rather interesting is the interactive element that IPC has injected into it. So, instead of watching IPC plugging products and promotions from its tenants for hours via the FB Live session, viewers can actually go ahead and purchase those products directly through Facebook Messenger with the help of a shopping bot.
First, you need to input #IPC in the comments section of the FB Live session to trigger the IPC’s shopping bot in your Messenger. Once it has been activated, things are rather straight forward from thereon.
In general, customers can choose to browse for products and deals through five shopping categories that are being presented as a carousel list. Alternatively, they can also ask the bot to search for the type of products as well as brands by inputting in the related keywords.
However, it seemed that there is no cancel order option once you proceed to checkout. You have to reset the shopping bot by inputting #IPC in the comment section of the FB Live session once again if you decided to change your mind at the very last minute.
After having a go at it ourselves, it does indeed feel a little weird trying to purchase products inside the Messenger solely through bot assistance. Still, it is not that far off from general e-commerce experience.
The IPC Live Shopping Fiesta is still on-going at the moment and will conclude at 10:00 PM tonight before the mall proceeds to the live broadcast of its NYE countdown concert, so do head on to its Facebook page if you want to try out the Messenger-based shopping experience yourself.
