Stores represent the most frequent touchpoints for direct brand-customer interaction, serving as ideal spaces for brands to showcase products, services, and core values. With nearly 30 years in the skincare industry, Dr. Plant utilizes high-mountain botanicals as its essence and carrier, adhering to the brand philosophy of "Revering Nature, Embracing Science, Giving Back to Society." In the new consumption era, Dr. Plant is committed to revitalizing productivity, service capability, and marketing power, introducing new domestic brands to consumers both in China and overseas.

How can brands uncover new growth in a saturated market? How can physical stores unlock greater commercial value? Dr. Plant embarked on a groundbreaking initiative: in January 2021, its first smart experience store officially opened in Shanghai, launching a newly upgraded "unmanned retail" model. This store creates deeper consumer interactions and more opportunities to capture customer engagement.

During the rollout of this smart store, Dr. Plant collaborated with Whale, leveraging Whale SpaceSight and Whale Harbor to integrate new products, technologies, content, and experiences—offering consumers diverse products and intelligent interactions.

1. Interactive Screens Craft an Immersive Experience

Upon entering, customers are immediately drawn to a transparent screen seamlessly integrated into the glass door. This display, featuring key products, conveys a strong sense of technological sophistication from the first touchpoint.

As customers browse, screens instantly display relevant product information—price, promotions, and ingredients—while also illustrating the production process. This not only enriches customer understanding but also reinforces the brand's reliability.

In the Dendrobium zone, a modular screen adapts dynamically: it shows unified content when idle, splits to show product-specific information when an item is picked up, and displays dual product details when two items are lifted. This "multi-purpose screen" approach allows customers to absorb both product information and brand storytelling, transparently conveying Dr. Plant's characteristics, technology, and philosophy—naturally strengthening brand-customer bonds.

Through thoughtful technical deployment, content distribution, and placement, Dr. Plant’s smart store delivers a signature "immersive interactive experience," offering richer, multidimensional, and full-scenario engagement.

2. | In the Age of Content, Brands Take Control

As content becomes central to the battle for consumer attention, the "content is king" mantra extends across both online and offline commercial spaces. The close integration of SpaceSight and Harbor empowers Dr. Plant to orchestrate its content strategy with precision.

Using Harbor, store managers can design customized content and deploy it across all screens with one click—enabling fast, unified, and real-time management of offline digital displays. This reduces manual maintenance costs while significantly boosting the impact and reach of brand content.

With support for multi-level permission management (corporate, store, and global sharing), diverse content formats, reusable templates, and rich interactive elements, Harbor helps Dr. Plant synchronize product information across all channels. This lowers operational complexity, flexibly adapts to varied business scenarios, and unlocks the brand’s full omnichannel content potential.

Staff at both store and headquarters levels can view and manage all stores and device groups under their permissions via Alivia, achieving true online-offline data synchronization. From creation and management to cross-channel distribution, Dr. Plant now executes content with seamless harmony.

3. Display Real Reviews to Build Trust Through Transparency

“Genuine buyer reviews speak louder than any endorsement or advertisement.”

This sentiment resonates among consumers, and brands increasingly value the power of authentic word-of-mouth.

Studies show that over 80% of online shoppers reference previous buyers’ comments before making a purchase. While easily accessible online, this kind of social proof has been largely absent in offline settings—until now.

In its flagship smart store, Dr. Plant partnered with Whale to develop a customized system that brings real-time online reviews directly into the physical store. Customer reviews from the brand’s mini-program store are displayed in real time, right before shoppers’ eyes—a signature feature of Dr. Plant’s smart experience store.

On a practical level, this gives customers immediate access to authentic peer feedback, improving trust in product quality and service standards—and boosting real conversion rates.

From a brand development perspective, unifying online and offline reviews enhances shoppers' sense of security and fosters greater brand loyalty and trust.

Displaying unfiltered customer feedback reflects Dr. Plant’s confidence and commitment to transparency. Whale’s real-time review integration elevates the consumer experience and opens new avenues for the brand to win over future customers.

This first smart experience store marks a significant milestone for Dr. Plant—a new starting point and a testing ground for future growth.

By embracing digital transformation with Whale, Dr. Plant has unlocked the full commercial potential of its physical space, capturing every customer interaction to deliver a renewed, intelligent, and exceptional shopping experience. Through store innovation, new products, advanced technology, compelling content, and memorable experiences, Dr. Plant is truly driving higher-quality consumption and unleashing latent consumer potential.