Old Buddha's Department Store "Abandon North Shanghai"

There was a rumor that the French old brand of the first direct store in China would be opened in Shanghai. Department store Lord Buddha recently announced that he would "abandon North Shanghai" and set up the first Asian business in Xidan, Beijing, in 2013. Direct shop This is a pity for consumers in Shanghai.

　　 Beijing The branch has been closed for a year.

According to relevant media reports, the French Department of general Lafayette and Hongkong I.T have reached an agreement to form a joint venture, Paris's old Buddha's department store (China) Co., Ltd., both sides account for 50% of the shares, while I.T is also expected to contribute a maximum of HK $150 million to the joint venture to prepare the first Beijing store. It is understood that the joint venture commercial project will be located in the northern part of Xidan shopping center in Beijing, and the main structure has already been capped, but the opening time will not be until 2013.

In fact, as early as the mid 90s of last century, the department store had opened branches at Donghua gate Night Market Street in Wangfujing, Beijing, but it only lasted a year. According to the analysis of the industry, although Lord of Buddha has a wealth of experience in department store operation, he had to leave the market for Chinese consumers' brand preferences and little understanding of the mainland market. The search for I.T as a partner is also a quicker entry into the Chinese market.

There will be more than 10 stores in China in 5 years.

PhilippeHouze, executive chairman of the company, told the Hongkong media that 10 to 15 department stores will be opened in China in the next five years, which is mainly distributed in two or three cities. But it does not exclude the possibility of opening stores in Hongkong. Meanwhile, Houze expects its annual sales of each shopping mall in the mainland to reach 50 million euros.

Abandoning Shanghai or failing to find suitable location

Zhu Lianqing, director of the commercial research center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, believes that although the mainland's first stop chooses Beijing instead of Shanghai market, although the Shanghai market is slightly better than the consumer market of luxury goods, Beijing's luxury market has more room for development than the developed luxury market in Shanghai.

"The luxury retail area in Shanghai is mainly concentrated in Nanjing West Road, Pudong Golden State Center, Huaihai Middle Road, the Bund and other places, and many large brands have opened flagship stores in Shanghai, but Beijing is different. Its luxury goods are mainly concentrated in Yansha business circle. Although there are some luxury goods distribution in Wangfujing and Xidan as central business circle, they are less concentrated than the Shanghai market, and the competition intensity is relatively small, and the development space is bigger."

Wang Liuhe, Secretary General of Shanghai general merchandise industry association, said: "old department store Lord Buddha has certain requirements for the historical sense of location and the volume of shopping malls. Therefore, it is bold to speculate that the first station did not choose the reason for the Shanghai market, or that it could not talk with the contact party for a while or did not find the right location, but as long as it is committed to deepening the Chinese market, I believe it will soon enter the Shanghai market."

It is reported that over 100 years old Lord Buddha currently operates 61 department stores in France and Germany. In 2009, the group's retail sales amounted to 2 billion 554 million euros, with a daily passenger flow of 1 million people. At least 90% of the French travel teams visited the old Buddha every year, and Chinese tourists accounted for the majority. Authoritative data show that more than 10% of the annual revenue of the old Buddha's group comes from Chinese tourists.

The industry believes that how to find a close to the Chinese consumer mode of operation, so that fashion buyers to buy goods that meet the aesthetic taste of Chinese consumers will be the key to decide whether or not the old Buddha can fight the Chinese market again in the two degree.