The Next Export Of Department Stores?

March 24th - 25, with the theme of "value, mode and mission". The Tenth China department store Summit It was held in Tianjin. "Adhering to tradition, innovation and continuous improvement, leading the transformation of China's department stores" is the purpose and direction of this summit.

Facing the surging clouds Retail Diversification, independent brands, thousands of stores and high property cost are important problems facing the department stores in China. Many department stores have doubts: will department stores be completely replaced by shopping centres? What is their value? If we reinventing the value of department stores, where are our exports?

At the current Summit Forum, vice president of China Academy of Social Sciences Financial Strategy Research Institute Jing Lin Bo Du Baoxiang, vice president of Limited by Share Ltd of Beijing department store (Group), Mr. Kang Xiaoyan, deputy general manager of Guang Bai Limited by Share Ltd and Li Sheng, chairman of IBMG international business management group, jointly explore the new value of the department store industry, hoping to enlighten the general practitioners in the Department of Commerce of the Wangfujing.

In the past two years, perhaps the most talked about retail topic is the transformation of department stores. Indeed, the springing up of shopping centers has squeezed the survival space of traditional department stores to a certain extent. It is not difficult to see that the share of goods sold in the shopping mall has been declining, and the experiential consumption mode such as leisure and entertainment has gradually dominated.

Some department stores that have the advantage of volume have started looking for a way out, adding new types of catering, living facilities and entertainment, while some traditional department stores restricted by area have encountered transformation difficulties, and many of them have begun to test the water business.

Guo Zengli, director of China shopping center industry information center, said in an interview with the clothing Times reporter that the shopping center of department stores has become a trend. So how will the department store be transformed? What will be the future of department stores and shopping centres? Should department stores set foot in the electricity supplier?

　　 Export 1: marching into the shopping mall

The development of department stores to shopping centers has become an inevitable trend, which is also an important step in the transformation of traditional department stores. But at the same time, we should see that department stores practitioners should not blindly follow suit and go out of different reform paths according to their own needs.

Clothing times: do you think that the expansion of department stores to shopping centers is an inevitable trend or an expedient choice?

Kang Xiaoyan: actually, from 2006, Guang Bai has started its first shopping center. Its area is close to 80 thousand square meters, of which more than 10 thousand are square meters, and supermarkets, cinemas and other entertainment facilities are also introduced. It was from then on that we realized that the format of shopping centers is a trend.

In my view, the reason why shopping centers are created is not the illusion of practitioners, but the new form of market changes and changes in consumer demand. Therefore, the shopping center of department stores or the development of department stores to shopping centers is an inevitable trend.

Clothing times: where is the future space for department stores? Will the department stores disappear?

Kang Xiaoyan: in fact, the department store will not be completely replaced by shopping centers. The department store industry has its value, but it should make timely transformation according to the current situation. I think the future department store and shopping center should show "you have me and I have you".

Specifically, on the one hand, department stores will first choose to enter shopping centers when choosing sites, and this shopping center may be developed by itself, or it may be that other commercial real estate needs us to enter. In addition, some traditional department stores have the advantage of volume and can be made into shopping centers. For example, when the flagship store in Guangzhou started business, it only had twenty thousand or thirty thousand square meters of business area, and later expanded to fifty thousand or sixty thousand square meters through property expansion. So we added elements of shopping centers, such as food and beverage, life supporting facilities, etc. At present, the transformation is very successful. Therefore, if department stores are not transformed, their future living space will be very small.

Fashion times: as a scholar specializing in retailing, how do you view the future development of department stores?

Jing Linbo: there are multiple answers to a question. Each enterprise faces different problems. Their geographical location is different, the system is different, the customer group is different, the differentiation performance is different, the management goal is different, therefore their transformation has not unified standard. Every enterprise should make decisions based on its own conditions and not blindly follow suit. Especially in the big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, department stores must not be blinded by shopping centers and so-called urban complexes. So, it is also a shopping center oriented department store, but the doorway is different.

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　　 Export two: to enter the electricity supplier

At present, many traditional department stores still hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the test water business providers, and the main reason for this phenomenon is that at present there is no electricity supplier mode that is particularly suitable for entity development. Practitioners should understand that the electricity supplier is not simply a website. Instead, it should use the electricity supplier's thinking to seriously study the consumption characteristics of the consumer groups, and study their understanding of the brand and the understanding of the consumer environment.

Clothing times: now there are some department stores try two modes online and offline. What do you think of the prospect of combining online and offline?

Du Baoxiang: our Wangfujing department store has made an attempt on the electricity supplier three or four years ago, and the result is pretty good. In fact, there are two main problems in the Department Store entering the electricity supplier. First of all, online sales are mainly about price fixing and convenience. If the same products are sold online and offline, how should prices be set? How should price differentials be reflected if different products are sold? In addition, the difference between entity store marketing and online marketing should be considered. At present, department store practitioners are still very cautious about the attitude of the electricity supplier, and are still in the exploratory stage.

Jing Linbo: Du's answer is very precise. The electricity supplier is indeed the general trend. If you go along with it, you will die. What should I do for the department store? I want to emphasize a view that we must not antagonism between the electricity supplier and the traditional department store. Think carefully, almost all industries can relate to the electricity supplier. In fact, only after the traditional department stores have fully set foot in the electricity supplier, can we say "the spring of Chinese electric business is coming".

Li Sheng: my first barrel of Nintaus was made by a discount website ten years ago. The experience of the past ten years has given me great inspiration. In fact, no matter what platform we build now, the way we use it should be summed up as a fundamental point: "meeting customer needs".

Today, department stores face a large number of post-80s, 90s, or even 00. Their perception of electricity providers, views on buying pleasure, perceptions of physical stores, and understanding of payment processes are different from ours. They are more willing to enjoy life in a particular environment. Therefore, we are not talking about whether general merchandise should be an electronic business, but that we must do business.

Department stores practitioners should understand that to do business is not simply to make a website, but to carefully study the consumption characteristics of these 80, 90, and 00 after using the electricity supplier's thinking, and study their understanding of the brand and the understanding of the consumption environment. In the future, whoever can master the real needs of these people is the best retailer and entrepreneur.

Clothing times: at present, most traditional department stores are too cautious in their involvement in electric business, so that the process is slow. What do you think are the reasons?

Kang Xiaoyan: Guang Bai has studied e-commerce for more than a year. I have several points I want to share with you. The reason why industrialists do business is slow. The most critical factor is that we have not yet found a suitable electricity supplier mode for entity development.

First of all, the evaluation criteria for the success of e-commerce enterprises are very confusing. What is this standard? Is it scale, profit or its sustained growth? For example, everyone thinks Jingdong has done well, but its loss is calculated by billions of dollars. For those who do business, making money is the top priority. We will not consider selling it to earn a share price difference, which is not what industrialists should have.

Second, in our country, our understanding of "e-commerce" is too biased towards "business". In fact, e-commerce is much more "electronic" in foreign countries. Foreign business practitioners consider more ways to diversify the experience of customers through the electronic platform. So when we are doing business, we should consider how to integrate the goods and after-sales service of the offline stores with the online. How can we make online consumers understand our products and understand our physical stores? This is the process of resource integration.

In the case of Guang Bai, it is more important to consider the electricity supplier as one of the resources, rather than just increasing the share. Now, the cost of publicity investment is very high in the whole electricity industry, and the output ratio has not reached the level of imagination. Therefore, we are cautious about the involvement of e-commerce providers.

　　 Export three: advance to real estate and Finance

"Department store alliance" is a term frequently mentioned in the past two years. This also means that department stores no longer focus on product sales, but should display a platform for the operation of the whole industrial chain, that is, the formation of a new retail concept such as "real estate + Finance + department store + electricity supplier".

Clothing times: department stores in recent years to meet consumer demand in the process, catering, leisure, life supporting facilities gradually increased. Among them, there is a word called "department store alliance". What stage do you think the department stores are now in?

Li Sheng: from the current development environment, back to the industry perspective, we can see that there are three problems in the department store industry. One is high cost, the two is high competition, and the three is homogenization. How should we break through and develop in such an environment?

What I share with you is the concept of "new retail and new department stores". What is new retail? The answer is "real estate + Finance + department store + electricity supplier = new retail".

At present, although property is becoming more and more sluggish, department stores still have the idea of investing in real estate. It is still open to question which way to put in, but the idea must be. Because with the rapid increase of property costs, some department stores including Chengdu Yang halls have closed down. In fact, when you own your property, you will not have these worries. Today, the environment we face is not only retail but also real estate. One of the most typical trends is the development of department stores to the shopping mall, which requires strong property and property support.

In addition, from a financial point of view, from the department store system, because of the exclusive nature of its property, there are various kinds of financial takeovers. At present, many retail businesses are also involved in small and medium loan companies. At present, we should see that department stores are no longer the platform of traditional brand taking the core of the brand and sales system as the platform. It not only regards the price difference of the brand and the value of the brand as the proceeds, but also shows the operation platform of a whole industrial chain, that is, the platform for displaying the "land production + Finance + department store + electricity supplier".