Souvenirs, the end stage of museum tour, usually appear in stereotypical forms of collection replica such as notepads and magnets. Dome to Home created a customer relationship model that solves the challenge of dome touring and souvenir personalization. Leveraging on sharing function and WeChat’s one billion users’ social network, this model allowed further discovery of potential customer and generates new e-commerce value for Mogao Caves.

Mogao Cave, artistic treasure that originates from The Silk Road. There are more than 400 domes situated in the Mogao Caves with unreachable height, protecting it from deterioration.

There are no other national treasures like the Dome Murals of Mogao Caves, which has been neglected by visitors for hundreds of years due to its architectural nature.

More than 400 dome paintings are silently hidden in the ceiling of the caves, without any light projection nor displayed sample photos. Due to the architectural structure and protection regulations, these hidden treasures have never been really appreciated or even noticed by visitors.

Even for those who randomly discovered it, by staring up, their necks are easily got sore less than 60 seconds, and then quickly gave up looking at it. It seems impossible to enjoy the dome murals in the cave.

Revive the Lost Beauty in Hand,

Instead of disrupting the existing physical experience,

we’ve explored variant access and touch points from visitors’ perspectives,

and wanted to leverage on mobile technology to bring the lost beauty back to life.

Visitors of the Mogao caves usually have to queue for more than one hour outside of the site. By targeting on this time window, our digital journey starts: we transform the neglected treasure into a tangible and interactive art experience on smartphones, and expand the process of appreciating the dome murals ahead of and also after their physical visit to the caves.

In this way, the neglected arts has revived in visitors’ own hands, and will keep glowing.

Idea/Dome to Home

We created a WeChat mini program allowing location-based notification for visitors. Upon accessing, individuals can transform mural squares into designer scarves. This offline to online engagement includes navigation, design, experience, and purchase. Social sharing allow visitors to not only showcase their designs, but also convert them into cultural advocates. The immersive experience continues after you leave the Mogao Caves, and leveraging on WeChat’s one billion users’ social network, we also enable people beyond visitors to discover and experience the beauty of Dome Murals at home.

It is a creative business experience for the visitors queuing, the souvenir shopping crowd, and travelers heading home.

This not only solve the challenge of touring the dome, but also creates a journey for personalized design and purchase of Mogao Cave souvenir digitally, extending the experience back at home.

1. China’s first e-commerce museum, spanning the digital and physical touchpoints, reinventing museum experience and new business model for souvenir purchase

2. Dome To Home received 2.5 million unique visitors in the first 3 months, an incremental increase from Mogao Cave’s annual visitors of 2 million

3. Transforming the traffic pressure for museum into better experience through creative services

4. Impacted travel decisions through Dome to Home, quarterly visitors increase 23% from last year

5. Attracted massive online visitors that generated 1.5x of ticket sales revenue at zero additional cost