The Development Of Martha'S Department Stores In China

In October 2nd, Marsha's first branch in mainland China opened in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai.

Nanjing West Road is one of the most famous commercial streets in Shanghai. The location of Marsha's department store is convenient, and the subway line two will be directly accessible. It is only two blocks away from the top business circle composed of Heng Long square, CITIC Plaza and mealong town square.

This store occupies the 4 floor of Hongxiang department store, which was formerly an old shopping mall. Sasa, Muji, Starbucks, which were originally open for business, have all been relocated.

Behind it is the reopening of the Wujiang road. The small commercial street has been completely upgraded after the pformation, and a lot of young people pursuing the trend have also gathered.

Marsha new store inherited the consistent style of Martha's stores all over the world. It still maintained a strict English style. With a steady green ink and brick red as the main decoration, the shop hall was bright, and the shelves were open, which was completely different from the traditional department store's exclusive sales. All the shops sold were independent brand goods labeled with Martha tags. This is also a magic weapon for Marsha's success in other areas.

Martha, a person in Shanghai, said that in recent one or two years, in some branches of Hongkong, consumers from the mainland even accounted for more than 30%. Men's formal clothes became the most popular products.

This gives them reason to believe that the foundation laid in Hongkong will become a powerful driving force for Martha's entry into the mainland market.

According to McKinsey's survey data, the value of China's retail industry has reached $892 billion, and is growing at an annual rate of about 10%. The number of wealthy middle class is increasing, and it is expected to increase to 290 million by 2011.

These people will undoubtedly become the backbone of China's fashion consumption.

It seems that Martha has all the conditions to make money. The most important thing is that its popularity and word-of-mouth are expected -- this is Marsha general merchandise.

There are many people who rush to this brand, but their disappointment may be greater than the surprise, because they soon discovered that it is actually a clothing store: the 1 and 2 layers are women's clothing, accessories and women's underwear, 3 men's wear, accessories and men's underwear, and only 4 floors sell other items such as food, gifts and household goods outside children's clothing, but the category is limited.

On the opening day of the national day, the customers were busy in the morning, but by the evening of 7 o'clock, the flow of the shops had been significantly reduced. Only the cashiers waiting at the counter could not compare with the grand occasion of the early days of ZARA and H&M.

Li Yue worked in a nearby website. She worked with her colleagues a few days before she started her business. "It's a bit unexpected to me. The colors and styles of clothes are generally very old, and the size is too large. I don't feel that they are made for Chinese people, but underwear is not yet?

"Wrong."

"I really can't give up, but I can only go to the 4 floor to buy two bags of biscuits, but I'll eat a fresh one and a frozen cake for 100 yuan. I'd prefer to buy it now.

After that, when I want to buy something for my mother, the eight hundred or nine hundred cashmere sweater is quite comfortable.

Betty, who wrote fashion articles for several media, said after stepping on a circle.

The expensive price and conservative style seem to be the most important evaluation of young and fashionable consumers to Martha. This situation is not strange to Martha. They just evacuated from Taiwan a few months ago, and the 3 shop in Taiwan has just opened for 14 months.

Martha chose to cooperate with the United Business in Taiwan, and the latter invested 130 million yuan in NT dollars for the project.

Taiwan's Lianhe Bao reported that Martha was different from traditional Japanese department store's special mode of operation, and opened Taiwan's retail industry with an open display mode and a semi self help purchase pattern.

But consumers in Taiwan have long been accustomed to shopping patterns of Japanese goods and department stores, seeking the tide flu.

For Martha, a British breed, most people in Taiwan do not have much recognition for Martha unless they are studying or living in the UK.

Now it seems that Martha Shanghai did not solve this problem. They still chose to use clothing to open the Chinese market.

The mode of open shelf sales can hardly enhance the overall quality of shopping malls, but the price of goods is not "discounted".

Clothing is still mostly middle-aged, and its color is relatively dark. Although the limited series of Lily Cole endorsement, it is still dominated by basic funds, and the sense of fashion is not strong.

And this is the only female dress has 6 yards series, other styles from 8 yards, obviously overestimated the mainland consumer's figure.

It is obvious that this style is not directed at the most fashionable young people in China.

A fact may be overlooked by them. In China, over 35 years of age, most of the people who have the ability to spend are in luxury stores, and those with low consumption are more in the market.

Another commodity of its family may touch the hearts of young people, which are popular and highly valued in other areas.

These products can be viewed on Martha's website: household products, electronic products, Christmas special products, etc.

But unfortunately, these commodities have not been introduced into China.

This is worrying whether Marsha will end up in Shanghai with the same ambitious lac Crawford.

Lian Crawford also had very good achievements in Hongkong, but after 6 years of operation in Shanghai, he quit in 2006.

"Marsha is quite different from lac Carver," said Wang Liuhe, Secretary General of the Shanghai general merchandise business association. "The problem of Lian Crawford is mainly on marketing. The brand introduced by lac Crawford is limited to consumers, and the marketing activities are too few to arouse more attention. The location of shopping malls is located in the eastern part of Huaihailu Road, and the flow of people is not concentrated."

Wang Liuhe believes that the situation of Marsha is different from that of Lian carver. The independent brand merchandise sold by the mall is a great advantage for it. This breaks the form of shop rental in past department stores in Shanghai, and makes the shopping malls more expensive, but the key to success lies in meeting the needs of consumers.

Marsha is still in the stage of running in with the domestic market. If we simply copy the foreign model, we may not succeed.

In the competitive Shanghai department store, it will be very important to catch the post-80s generation consumers.

It is easy to see that this has just become the soft spot of Martha.

Martha, who was in Shanghai, said that as the largest flagship store in Asia, Shanghai store did not have plans to increase the variety of commodities and change the style of commodities in the short term.

Martha positioned himself as a middle market retailer in the mainland of China, but they ignored the preference difference between Chinese and British consumers: Britons may pay more attention to brand and texture, while Chinese people pay more attention to the trend and change.

Once Martha is positioned in the consumer's mind as an old, dreary department store, it will miss the most active consumer group in Shanghai, and it will be even more difficult to reverse such a market image.

But everything is just beginning.

The company now has about 760 branches of chain corporation in more than 30 countries and regions. After all, it has good reputation, stable market image and long-term good cooperation with suppliers.

At the same time, its English service is also thoughtful and appropriate. For example, Marsha Shanghai will provide 3 different trousers for the same waistline trousers, so as to reduce the trouble of customers' modification, and the 90 day free refund and replacement service is also a difficult commitment for local department stores.

Martha's first quarter results in 2008 showed that its international sales increased by 24.5%. In the next 5 years, Martha plans to increase the proportion of international business revenue to 15%-20%.

But how to avoid repeating the mistakes of Martha in Taiwan and catching the most mainstream and active consumer in Shanghai is the most important topic at present.

It should convince young people who are following the trend that this is a fashionable shopping place and will bring a new way of life in English.