News

29 April 2021: Pratthana Leelapanang, Chief Consumer Business Officer at AIS said, “During this current Covid outbreak, which is becoming ever more severe, every sector must join forces to cope with this challenge together - both in supporting Public Health at front line of treatment, and stimulating the economy. These efforts must go hand in hand appropriately.

“As a Digital Life Service provider, we have announced our intentions to be part of this obligation since the first wave of the pandemic to the present, under the project “AIS 5G Fighting Covid - Connecting and Assisting the Thai people.” We are applying the potential of 5G, 4G Fibre Broadband and Super WiFi technology to support the Public Health sector while it is expanding its capacity for treatment with field hospitals. At latest, AIS has installed communications networks in 62 field hospitals counting over 12,770 beds. We are also applying our Digital Services such as in AI CT lung scans, Telemedicine and supporting free data for the app Mor Chana, and being behind Village Health Volunteers (VHV) through the app Or Sor Mor Online.”

K Pratthana underlined that, “We see the vital importance of helping to drive the economy to continue amidst this massive challenge. With New Normal lifestyles which arose since last year we are confident that 5G and Virtual Reality are key mechanisms with an increasingly important role in key industries and people’s lives from many perspectives. It is forecast that VR and AR technology will add 1.5 trillion USD (45 trillion baht) to world economic growth by 2030, with an effect on 23 million jobs. AIS is a Digital Life Service Provider which has now developed its 5G network to cover all 77 provinces of Thailand with the most spectra and best download speeds. It will leverage 5G and VR technology to create exciting experiences and benefits in the retail industry. It will provide access to products and services, seamlessly connecting department stores and online platforms, at another level of quality. There will also be a full suite of privileges for 41.4 million AIS customers and the Thai public to reinvigorate Thai economic growth during the crisis.

“Today, we are extremely proud to be partnering with leading operators in the retail sector such as The Mall Group Company Limited, City Mall Group Company Limited (The Emporium), TV Direct Public Company Limited, and leading lifestyle brands Loft, Jung Saem Mool and ALAND to revolutionize the retail industry and level up Thai online services. With the launch of the virtual premium platform “V-Avenue.Co powered by AIS 5G”, the first virtual shopping mall in the world is powered by cutting-edge Virtual Reality (VR) technology combined with AIS 5G, the most modern network. Customers are enabled to choose products freely as if they were at a store or shopping district through the website V-Avenue.Co, bringing convenience and speed to customers wherever they are in the world, enabling them to have shopping for products in leading department stores at their fingertips, in line with shopping behavior in The New Normal, clicking to buy safely, with no need to travel.”

V-Avenue.Co brings leading shopping destinations into the same place:

1. AIS Virtual Store has ripped up the rules of the traditional AIS shops and added Digital Life experiences in virtual formats bringing together 5G smartphones and cutting edge IoT gadgets from a range of leading brands such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme and Oneplus, and a slew of other leading smart devices on sale at exclusive prices.
2. The Emporium and The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan are a new dimension of shopping which is different and more modern than ever before. Attractive lifestyle products and international brands bring exclusivity covering every product category, whether at Beauty Hall, Women & Men Fashion, Power Mall, Sports Mall, Watch Galleria, Betrend or Gourmet Market.
3. Asian Lifestyle is a hub for leading lifestyle products bringing in three famous international brands: ALAND, a multi-brand fashion store from Korea with the best of Korean designers in one place, Jung Saem Mool, a Korean professional cosmetics brand currently popular among Thai women, and Loft, a specialty store of famous brands from Japan, to provide exclusive shopping experiences with specially selected products and limited editions to choose from.
4. TV Direct sources innovative products from every corner of the world to improve people’s lives, and are arranged into zones such as Your Home - home appliances, utensils and innovations to make life easier, Your Beauty - health and beauty products for all genders and ages to have a distinctive look, and Your Yummy – famous delicious dishes and provincial specialties which have been carefully curated to bring tastiness from around Thailand into one place.
5. Community Hub is a space open to over 210 small stores with food, fashion, furniture, lifestyle products and many more to shop.

Pratthana added, “In the future, we plan to build and add features which better meet the requirements of online shopping. For instance, LIVE sales staff can chat and recommend products to customers. The space in front of the V Avenue can be opened to operators of every size as a platform for virtual events such as a Virtual Expo, music concert or fashion show, a new Business Model in the Market Place sector. AIS 5G is ready to provide the technological support to expand capabilities and level up the potential of Thai retail. After V Avenue is open, there will be marketing through every online and offline channel, plus collaborations with partners on special promotions, giving extra privileges and discounts to shoppers throughout the year.”

Miss Voralak Tulaphorn : Chief Marketing Officer, The Mall Group Co.,Ltd. said, “The Mall Group is powering ahead with its road map for full-format digital commerce retail. We are transforming our business into the era of Digital 5.0, and developing our marketing channels as an integrated omnichannel. We combine this with the highlights of our offline retail, a leader in world class shopping malls and department stores. This proceeds in parallel with developing our digital online platform to produce new kinds of encounters, and to generate a seamless shopping experience. In this cooperation with AIS, Thailand's number one leader in Network Technology and Digital Services, to launch “V-Avenue.Co powered by AIS 5G”, the world's first virtual shopping mall, we have brought in our leading department stores and filled them with products covering lifestyle, fashion, sports equipment, home products and cosmetics. We are confident that the cooperation with AIS on this occasion will be highly successful, because it is adding a distribution channel which gives the fastest convenience to customers. It enables customers to enjoy their shopping more, having at their fingertips The Emporium Department Store, The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan, and our Gourmet Market, acknowledged as a superior supermarket and the best-stocked in Southeast Asia. When a customer clicks to purchase products or on “see more products”, the system will link the customer to the website www.monline.com (for Gourmet Market, the system will link to M Card shop), enabling customers to enjoy choosing from even more products from every department store in the Mall Group. They will also encounter a new kind of shopping content in the form of Shopper-tainment, delivering a different and better shopping experience to our customers.

 “We will also be giving special privileges to customers of AIS, with discounts of up to 400 baht when buying products from M ONLINE.”

Chairoj Sridecharinkul Executive Vice President - Asian LifeStyle, which brings together three leading international lifestyle product brands, Loft, ALAND and Jung Saem Mool. He commented, “This cooperation with AIS is a significant event in creating new experiences for consumers. It is truly underlining innovative lifestyles. We have expertise in offering branded lifestyle products which are exceptionally different and one of a kind. For this launch of “V-Avenue.Co powered by AIS 5G” bringing flawless appeal to modern lifestyles, we have selected three prominently famous brands which represent lifestyles different from anywhere else. These are Loft, a specialty store offering products catering to the lifestyles of every group, for customers to shop from a wide range always full of surprises, ALAND, a multi-brand store bringing together stylish fashion items from famous Korean brands in a single space for young people to shop to their hearts’ content, and Jung Saem Mool, the number one cosmetics brand from Korea which every young lady should have in her purse, the original skin care for a glowing complexion, and a current hot hit. I believe that creating these new formats of shopping experience will be very enjoyable for consumers, as they can shop easily with just a tap of their fingers, for a wonderful new experience they have never had before.”

Mr. Songpol Shanmatkit, Chief Executive Officer of TV Direct Public Company Limited or TVD noted, “TV Direct has laid out a policy to drive its business under the strategy of Harmonized Channels which make use of every potential. These include TV home shopping, our call center, our TVD Shop retail shops, and e-commerce. The aim is to generate increased sales from our online channels. This cooperation with AIS, Thailand’s number one network and digital service provider, applies 5G and Virtual Reality (VR) technology with new user features, which I believe are better in line with the behavior of online shoppers. They can shop 24 hours a day, which helps to increase capabilities in reaching TVD's existing customer base which currently numbers 10.1 million, and expand a new customer base to generate more sales through online channels. I am confident that the launch of “V-Avenue.Co powered by AIS 5G” will bring new experiences to both our customers and those of AIS by combining Virtual Technology with realistic immersive content. It will develop the TVD Digital Mall to be an online shopping mall which truly caters to shopping for products with data.”

Click to start shopping for IT and lifestyle products at V-Avenue.Co 24 hours a day with 360° views in both 2D or 3D, or enjoy an enhanced virtual shopping experience with a VR headset from 29 April, 2021 onwards.