(Yicai Global) Jan. 29 -- Electronics giant Lenovo Group Ltd. is the latest Chinese firm to join the New Retail revolution with the opening of a new smart store in Beijing.

The new outlet, dubbed Lenovo Smart Life Direct-Sale Store, will use new technologies such as artificial intelligence to improve shoppers' experience, the firm said in a press briefing yesterday. The use of AI in-store draws similarities with other entrants to new retail, such as e-commerce behemoths Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.Com Inc., which are looking to make use of new tech at their physical outlets.

Lenovo's recently established New Retail unit Tianxi Chuanqi Technology Co. operates the shop, which offers more than 400 product categories and provides special areas and interactive classrooms to boost visitor experience. In addition to selling the brand's main products, the outlet also offers integrated smart services including repair, training, consultant, experience and personal customized products.

Lenovo aims to open 150 New Retail stores nationwide this year, said one industry insider, says Tianxi Chuanqi CEO Zhou Ming, It will adopt a  direct-sale store + franchised outlet model, with around 1,000 New Retail stores to open in the long-term.

New Retail has become a key term in China's progressing consumer economy as of late. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Chairman Jack Ma coined the term in 2016, and describes it as "the integration of online, offline, logistics and data across a single value chain."