Interview With Li Shen, General Manager Of Shang Ke Department Store

Flash, War Within Three Kingdoms, graffiti, tidal replacement. High-heeled shoes Competition... Do these words remind you of the campus? If you are told that the organizers of these events are a department store, will you be more interested? It is located in the Beijing Dazhong Temple business circle, relying on the background advantage of Wangfujing department store, and is also separated from the brand connotation of the mother brand of Wangfujing department store. It is the Youth Theme department store, hQ Shang Ke department store.

Compared with traditional comprehensive department stores, the biggest feature of theme department stores is to have a specific theme and face a specific consumer group. Shang Ke department stores rely on the background of Wangfujing department store to create a youthful signboard to attract the attention of young consumers. At the same time, various activities are launched to publicize the popularity of brands. Since its opening in September 2010, it has gradually cultivated its own field in a region lacking commercial atmosphere.

　　 Careful operation to attract young people

"Youth is an eternal age. As long as we are in the age of" Youth ", people are our potential customers. After 80 people grow up, we will be the market after 90. When we grow up after 90, we will aim at the market after 00. With the passing of such a generation, our target customers will always be a stable group, and there will be no problem of shrinking customers or too small targets. In short, the theme department stores can also be very popular.

Reporter: Shang Ke department store It's a youth department store. Why is it located near the Great Bell Temple? The business environment here has been very bad.

Li Shen: hQ Shang Ke department store is the first youth department store under the Wangfujing department store. HQ is the English shorthand of Fashion Headquarters. It is interpreted as the fashion headquarters and the birthplace of fashion. We hope to make it a fashion publishing place for young people. Wangfujing department store builds a young and fashionable sub brand according to this positioning plan. The choice of Dazhong temple is due to the fact that the department store of Wangfujing had communicated with the property in the middle of 2005 around the international commercial center of Chung Kun. At that time, it was in order to form a wrong direction in the direction of the operation of another store, Shuang an mall. Headquarters hopes to have an independent platform to try the sub brand, so it is located in the youth department store, officially opened in September 16, 2010.

Before the construction of Zhong Kun international business center, it was the wholesale market of Dazhong temple. Now there is a wholesale center such as Jin Wu Xing. This area gives people the impression that the traditional market. After the completion of Zhong Kun, it is located in a modern shopping center, but it is not as simple as it is imagined and faced with many difficulties. The biggest difficulty is the lack of commercial atmosphere. Shang Ke is the first main merchant to be settled in Zhong Kun. Subsequently, Carrefour, Gome and Xinhua Jiao Chuan cinema were settled here.

Until July last year, the team was hosted by the Shuang an store. The operation method was not quite in line with the location of the youth department store. After that, the headquarters began to cultivate the brand of Shang Ke department store, so it set up an independent management team and began to operate independently. Since the second half of last year, we have also done some marketing activities that are popular with young people, such as War Within Three Kingdoms, flash, high heeled shoes and so on.

Reporter: this sounds very interesting. Can you introduce these youth theme activities in detail? What's the effect of it?

　　 Li Shen The effect is really good. Our marketing goal is to attract customers who are in line with the positioning, such as flash activities, not only playing a more than imaginative publicity effect, but also employees. Every Friday at half past three pm, there is a flash activity in front of the square. Every morning, the flash has become an alternative workday exercise for our customers. We hope that young workers will enjoy this activity. Not only customers can see, but also participate in them, and integrate into the blood of enterprises.

In addition, we publish these messages through the forum and micro-blog, and promote with the help of print media. As a matter of fact, the publicity fund has not been invested much more than before. It is only aimed at adjusting the characteristics of young people, making full use of Internet publicity, advocating marketing first, and beating the brand and image vigorously.

At the commodity level, although there are some problems, we are constantly adjusting. Since last year, some categories that are not in line with young positioning have been resolutely abandoned, and young people like to continue to do a good job of the category, and constantly explore new brands to dislocation with other traditional department stores. For example, we have some unique brands in Northwest Beijing business circle: Time out, E&JOY, Royal rubber band, its music retro (Beijing's first counter), WHAT FOR, Makanna, cava cava, etc., which can not be bought in other families, but only to customers, and sales are good.

Through our continuous efforts and meticulous operation, we constantly close the yard and adjust the brand. On the one hand, relying on big property as soon as possible to promote investment in order to enhance popularity; on the other hand, in their own transformation, try to join young people's favorite functional items, such as catering.

Reporter: is there a lot of youthful brand that can be regarded as a professional department store?

Li Shen: hQ Shang Ke department store is very clear as a youth theme department store. It does not make comprehensive department stores or professional stores. There are two reasons for this: first, avoiding the increasing size of the department stores, and finally leading to no definite positioning; and second, avoiding the single type of merchandise and the small number of target customers.

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The characteristic of Shang Shang is to gather the love of young people. As long as they are related to youth, they may become our commodities. No matter after 80, 90 or even after 00, no matter what he likes is skateboarding, cycling or basketball, are our customers. Youth is the core operation concept of department stores, and it is also the first factor to consider when choosing merchants. Of course, we will also take into account the purchasing power of this group when attracting investment, so the customers are mainly targeting at the mid price products and will not introduce high-end brands on a large scale.

Reporter: what does Shang Ke rely on to attract the cutting-edge people in Beijing?

Li Shen: to a certain extent, the retail industry is no longer a competition between stores and stores, but rather a competition among business circles. Although Xidan and Sanlitun have excellent advantages in terms of volume, location and ability to assemble, there is still room for market share. As a blank spot in the market, there is not a very mature business circle in the northwest of Beijing. We need to attract more Chaozhou people. This needs a process. It is not unfeasible to insist and publicize. Dazhong temple is located in the North Third Ring Road, next to Chengtie line 13, with convenient transportation. From the early experience, our activities and commodities themselves are attracting more and more attention.

Reporter: how does Shang Ke develop a way to adapt to positioning in publicity channels?

Li Shen: let me give you an example. There is an electronic magazine "Shang Shang" in Shang Ke department store. In February 10th this year, the first development of its own electronic magazine "I Shang" was officially issued. "I Shang" is interpreted as "love fashion"! "Shang Shang"! I am still a guest! "I Shang" is based on the well-known fashion newspaper and the mass media shopping guide client platform. The mobile phone or tablet computer with IOS or Android operating system can be downloaded for free. As a new attempt of electronic reading, hQ Shang Shang's "I Shang" magazine is the first one in the department store. "I Shang" electronic magazine is a sign of our store's positioning. Because it will be the world of mobile Internet in the future, we aim at the mobile internet terminal. The contents of "I Shang" are also very good. There are also popular trends collected from the collection of the season, and even the models inside are still customers.

This bold attempt to break through the tradition is also fully considering the characteristics of hQ Shang brand itself in positioning youth fashion. In the application of publicity media, it is more suitable for the target location of shopping malls and maximizes the advantages of the media.

　　 Differentiation should be embodied in commodities.

"When the retail industry develops to a certain point, the market needs to be differentiated. This is the law of survival. The trend of department store shopping center and shopping center department store is obvious. From Wangfujing department store, the shopping center will also develop in the future. The format will be adjusted, such as Shang Ke department store is not big, but the theme store with distinct theme will be the trend of department store in the future."

Reporter: micro-blog is looking for a buyer. How is the buying system running here?

Li Shen: we only started recruiting buyers this year. First, in order to publicize the brand image, another is to find more suitable products for young people in the store. This is a new word for buyers. Foreign department stores need to purchase independently in their own way, so buyers are more popular abroad. On the contrary, domestic department stores mainly use joint ventures, so this concept is still unknown to us.

Since the development of Wangfujing department store, we must start exploring new procurement mode of self operated commodities. Shang Ke department store has begun to try. On the two floor, there is a small shop named "master". The collection of young gadgets from Nanluogu Lane as a self-designed experimental field may enlarge in the future. In the future, differentiated competition with traditional department stores depends not only on marketing activities, but also on the commodity level, and the development of new resources. This is the starting point of self employment. At the same time, if self-employed is well done, the gross profit level will be higher.

At present, the recruitment of buyers is also a brand promotion strategy. According to the requirements, we will give corresponding rewards to the shops that meet the requirements. Before a while, we bundled the recruitment posters with the newspapers inside the campus, and walked into the various campuses.

Reporter: the discount of Shang Ke is very strong, and it is a long-term promotion. Will this affect the final profit?

Li Shen: of course, department stores are unified management, cash register, publicity and promotion. At the time of promotion, the buckle is double supplement. The department stores make up part of the brand. Part of the sales promotion is shared by both sides. Therefore, each department store needs a shop to share the share between the two sides. Different ways of activities include different ways of distribution, some of which are added to the deduction points, and some are the deduction points.

Shang Ke's discount is very strong, and it is a long-term promotion, which will inevitably affect profits, but when entering the market, we must seize market share. The price means at this time is necessary. The current profit method is to attract more people. One of the means is price, which is to lose money.

Of course, when the new store opens, the number of brands will not be very high. If the store is not worth opening, the brand itself will be doubtful. Our adjustment this year is to close up the store and increase the efficiency of the single player. Of course, this will also be combined with improving the business environment and increasing the passenger flow.

Reporter: many traditional department stores fight for electricity providers, will Shang Ke department store have innovation in this area?

Li Shen: This is the strategy of the Wangfujing department store. It is already preparing for the electricity supplier company. It will soon be on the line. Before that, many of the Wangfujing stores have online shopping centers. In fact, I personally do not object to the joint operation of entities and electricity providers, but how to complement each other and support each other, rather than seize each other's share, is a matter that needs to be deeply considered and solved.

Reporter: as a pioneer of youth department store, can you share your experience?

Li Shen: there are also Youth Theme stores in China, but there is no such bright flag showing youth department stores. When it comes to how to do the youth department store, it is restricted by various conditions. The difficulty is quite great. My experience is that if we look for the right direction, we should continue to persist. We believe that the department stores with unique themes will survive in the more and more refined market in the future. Now we need to stick to it and stick to it.

Reporter: what are the new trends of Shang Ke department store this year?

Li Shen: mainly to improve sales based marketing, continue to create the image of youth stores, constantly adjust commodities, close shop, enhance popularity and create popularity. It will take time to improve slowly, not only for customers to come to stay, but also for the flow of passengers in the Dazhong Temple business circle.