"Joy" And "Worry" Of Mother And Baby Chain Stores

Data show that the number of newborns in China is 13 million to 15 million every year. After the implementation of the "two child" policy, the number of newborns will increase by about 2 million per year. The scale of infant industry in China is expanding rapidly. The market scale has reached 140 billion yuan in 2013, and it is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan in 2015. Therefore, a large number of external capital flows into the baby industry, such as Wanda created the first children's brand baby king, providing a one-stop service for children; the express delivery company is also aiming at the market of maternal and infant products, and is placing the convenience store "mother shop" under the layout line.

　　 Talent is short board.

"Although the overall scale of the industry is expanding, the specific revenue to each dealer and retailer is not so optimistic." Luo Wengao said. In 2013, the average gross profit margin of the top ten maternal and infant chain stores in China was only 15%, the average operating cost increased by 15% over the same period last year, and the annual retail efficiency of retail stores was less than 19000 yuan, down 100 yuan compared with the same period last year.

"2013 is a turning point. Before that, the efficiency and scale of baby chain stores are increasing. Since last year, although the scale is growing, the single store efficiency has been reduced, that is, sales are no longer dependent on Ping efficiency growth, but depend on opening more stores to achieve growth. Luo Wengao said.

about Baby lock business In addition to the impact of the electricity supplier, Luo Wengao believes that many large scale nationwide chain stores are located in the first tier cities, and the competition is fierce, while the overall consumer market is relatively low. "However, in areas where competition is not saturated, operators can still get profits."

At the same time, the cost of single store operation is soaring. In the first tier cities, rents even account for 20% to 30% of sales. Moreover, the pressure of channel flattening is increasing. Especially for the distributors of baby dealers, the number of distributors with pure distribution is decreasing, because manufacturers want to compress channels and directly connect with retail terminals, which is why dealers are opening retail outlets.

The lack of commodity management leads to the imbalance of commodity structure and the lack of retail talents, which is also the reason for the decline in profitability. Luo Wengao said: "because many channels are transformed from dealers, and retail pays attention to detail management, which is different from distribution and agency management. Good retail talents such as store managers, market supervisors and shopping guides are hard to find. This is also one of the reasons for the difference in profitability between different stores in the same chain. "

Gao Sheng, the head of the prince's sheep and child's chain store, said that the baby shop needs talents with both nursing and shopping guide ability, and the lack of talents directly affects the expansion of enterprises.

In order to retain talent, Tang Li's way is to make employees become shareholders. "For outstanding managers, we will reward shares. We will pay dividends if the rating reaches three star employees. Motivate employees to share the fruits of success, so that the staff turnover rate will be relatively low.

　　 towards Service provider Transformation

"Our industry is not short of products, but lack of services." Gaosheng said, "young mothers now have a great demand for parenting knowledge, so we are building and building a consultative service system. On the one hand, we are conducting in-house training. On the other hand, the external baby nurses are also promoting child care services on the website." Since the implementation of the project for six months, the reputation of the prince and sheep has increased significantly. The number of visitors to the store, the number of new members and the unit price of guests have increased.

Gaosheng said that the prince sheep store not only has a good shopping environment and quality products, but also provides professional services for consumers, especially in some common parenting problems, such as baby's intestinal discomfort, paper diapers with red buttocks, and how to supplement calcium, stores can provide intimate counseling services for customers.

　　 Babba Baba Cheng Yan, founder of the children's clothing experience Museum, said that the main reason for the decline of most of the store's performance is not the impact of online shopping, nor is it a fierce competition.

"The situation we must face is that after 85 mothers become the main force of consumption, and after 90's mothers catch up with them. They are pursuing a distinctive generation, and also a generation with boundless thinking. Ultimately, products do service. When the product is about the same, service becomes a distinctive selling point. "It is no longer a mode to operate simply by earning a price difference. The baby store should be transformed into a community mother and infant consultant. If the role can not be changed, the offline market will be consumed by the electricity supplier." Luo Wengao said frankly, "community-based, community-based and service-oriented" is the direction of future baby chain transformation.