Children play, moms purchase - and e-commerce prospers

Online retailers enjoy success by operating offline family theme parks

Wang Xi, 32, a white-collar worker in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, often takes her 3-year-old daughter to a recreation park in a shopping mall at weekends. While there, her daughter can play games, draw pictures and attend classes.

The indoor amusement park named Mialand is operated by an e-commerce platform, mia.com, which is primarily engaged in selling maternity and baby products online. The company plans to open more than 30 Mialands - indoor theme parks for children aged from 0 to 12 - in major cities across the country by the end of this year.