Britain'S "Department Store Nobles" Marsha'S Dim Future In China Is Bleak.

Despite being in China for six years, the "British aristocracy"

For Chinese people, they are still unfamiliar.

Martha's walk in China is an international giant's way: two or three line market to find the feeling.

However, even if we put down a hundred years of brand appearance to Qingdao, Jiangyin, Ningbo and other cities, Marsha is still difficult to enter the mainstream.

We can not find the direction of development and let Marsha general travel hard in China.

Second line operation

In the Wanda Plaza, located in Licang, Qingdao, Martha's department is flooded with a popular brand.

For two years, Marsha has not ceased to introduce itself: "Marks & Spencer originated in 1884, is one of the most famous and popular brands in the UK. It is famous for providing fashionable clothing and quality food, and its clothing has many brands to meet the customers' fine dress and taste."

In this billboard, Marsha's department stores emphasize the brand of "Marsha" and "M&S" and weaken the image of department stores.

According to a person familiar with the matter, business competition in southern Qingdao is fierce and commercial projects in core locations are mostly saturated.

Marsha general requires more than 1000 square meters of business area, most shopping centres are difficult to give up a large area.

This is Martha in Licang.

The store operates in the same way as fast fashion brands.

In 2006, ZARA entered China, followed by H&M's arrival, along with its later brands such as UNIQLO, GAP, C&A and so on, almost became the "standard" of the first tier city shopping malls and the "signs" of second tier city stores.

So far, Marsha has only entered a first tier city in Shanghai, and Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places have not yet opened stores.

The rest of the stores are located in Changzhou, Ningbo, Wuhan, Jiangyin, Wenzhou and Suzhou.

China is an important market in the strategy of retailer internationalization.

Most of the development paths of international brands will first choose to test water in Shanghai, then enter Beijing and then set up shop in the whole country.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Marsha general, which has always maintained the British rigorous style, has always been a British project manager, and this has slowed the localization of Marsha's department store.

"The replacement of Marsha general store window requires headquarters advice."

In a few interviews with Marsha general store, the staff also indicated that it was necessary to plate the outline into English for feedback to the British headquarters and decide whether or not to reply from the British side. "The process will be very long and it will not always be answered."

Difficulties in positioning

In 2008, Marsha general merchandise entered the Chinese market, but time did not let Marsha general store known and accepted by the Chinese people.

In Nanjing West Road, Shanghai, the flagship store of Martha's department is side by side with GAP, H&M and UNIQLO, but the Beijing Commercial Daily reporter has visited several times to find that consumers' enthusiasm for Marsha is far less than that of their neighbors.

The most popular brand of Marsha's department store in Wanda Plaza, Licang is not imported brand food, but imported food.

In the two years when they came to Qingdao, Marsha's department stores began to operate more difficultly, but now they are on the right track, with an average monthly sales of one million yuan.

The imported food area in the store is popular because of its regular channels and low price.

Zhao Ping, deputy director of the Ministry of consumer economics of the Ministry of Commerce, looks at the idea that Midea's business philosophy is to buy durable goods at a relatively reasonable price.

Fast fashion is to win consumers in speed, style and fashion.

From this perspective, fast fashion has succeeded in harvesting the young customers they want, but Marsha is not so lucky.

Martha's positioning group falls on middle-aged people. Most of these groups choose famous brands and high quality goods.

To some extent, apart from the pressure brought by the downturn in the department store, the failure of Marsha's department is also closely related to the current consumption environment in China.

China is in the period of consumption pformation, and consumers are gradually stepping into reason.

However, compared with consumers in Europe and North America, the majority of Chinese consumers are still in the stage of brand pursuit.

It is hard for China to grasp the hearts of Chinese consumers in terms of selling self owned goods and private label brands.

weak prospects

Looking at foreign capital

In recent years, the development of China seems to be accompanied by stumbling.

Baisheng, the first foreign capital store, is seeking to turn over as a brand name. During this period, Parkson closed 7 stores.

This is also true of the Japanese investment hall.

Hua Tang wants to cooperate with suppliers to develop proprietary proprietary products, and even shut down 3 stores in Beijing market during the year of pformation.

Thailand's Shang Tai Department Store is not going well, and will be closed by the end of the year after Shenyang's defeat in Hangzhou.

Marsha said that it would look for partners to re open the new flagship store.

Stephen Rayfield, managing director of Greater China in Shanghai, has previously admitted that it is reassessing the existing store structure and may adjust the location of some two level shops in the vicinity of Shanghai, so as to prepare for the opening of a new flagship store.

Malone, head of China's retail industry in the UK's investment and trade department, has said that finding a suitable partner is a shortcut for international retailers to enter the Chinese market.

Foreign investors take a long time to understand the market and find their business strategy and direction.

In Zhao Ping's view, it is not difficult for Marsha general to find partners in the upstream industry chain, but it may not be easy to find more partners from downstream.

Marsha's department needs some franchising and other ways to get the brand's attention and market share in the market.

Wang Wenfang, deputy general manager of Shimao square and three, believes that if there is no advantage of large group operation, foreign department stores will hardly be able to take advantage of foreign brand profits to attack the Chinese market.

Even if foreign department stores bring high value buyer brand, but it is difficult to open the market under the situation of low popularity and poor marketing promotion.