What Traditional Department Stores Do Is Criticized By Thousands Of People.

The golden age of a department store salesman to care for three customers has long passed. What is wrong with the department store or what is wrong?

Ms. Lee has been cleaning for 9 years in the Pacific department store in Xujiahui, Shanghai. She works 12 hours a day. She is bending down to sweep the fine pieces of the two floor corridor with mops. She has to stop and let pedestrians pass by now and then. On the 20 day of the 11 month, the two floor is more than usual, because today is the first day of the 15% off anniversary of the Pacific anniversary.

"I'm more tired now than I used to be."

She said.

In the past, Ms. Li and two colleagues shared with her the cleanliness of the building, but now the burden is entirely on her own.

Most of the other department stores that we visited were also in such a state of affairs: department stores were no longer prosperous, and their depression directly led to layoffs in department stores.

And the empty shopping passages do not need to be cleaned like they used to be.

The downturn in department stores is not new. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, department stores closed 7 stores, 15 stores and 23 stores.

Closing shop tide did not end. As of 30 June 2015, department stores closed 25 stores, and the total number of stores in the first half of the year even exceeded the whole year in 2014.

In the struggling department stores, the business area decreased by 1619.65, 000 square meters compared with the same period last year, representing a reduction of 81 Xidan Joy City.

The difficulty of the department store is not unique to China. This year, the "double 11" first entered Messi's department store in Tmall. In September, it announced that it would close 40 stores. "Anyway, what they buy now is not for sale."

Messi store CEO Terry Lundgren said.

The department store was once a pleasant shopping destination for Americans in the twentieth Century and 21 in the early part of the 20th century, but now it is no longer popular.

In order to save the plight, traditional department stores are also embracing new technologies. The Huijin department store of Tianshan Road in Shanghai launched the payment function of Alipay and WeChat in the 11 month.

In the past, it might take 1-2 minutes to search for cards, pay, and sign, but now it takes only 30 seconds to scan the two-dimensional code.

Next month, customers can pay their bills directly on their phones, and no longer need to look for cashiers everywhere.

But such an innovative way of payment can really save.

The downturn?

Zhang Xiaozheng, about 26 years old, tried on a pair of ladies' short boots on the first floor of Huijin department store. The number of her shopping trips was reduced over the previous two years.

She didn't know that Huijin had introduced a new payment method. When asked, would the new convenient payment method encourage her to come to the department store? Her first reaction was, "do you have a discount? If you do not discount, there is no point in changing the way of payment."

At the Only store on the two floor of Huijin department store, there is a loose Teddy cashmere windbreaker on the right hand side of the shop, priced at 999 yuan. "Today the Department discount, the price is 599 yuan after the discount."

The salesperson told us.

Only's flagship store's home page on Tmall has been reduced by 30 from the windbreaker 50 percent off, and the price is 499.5 yuan. This windbreaker has been sold on Tmall for 4061 pieces this month.

This year, the department stores in all parts of the country began to build online. This year, 3 months ago, Wanda set up an electronic business platform called "Fei fan net".

The first department store, Yongan department store, Oriental Shopping Center and first eight hundred companion company of Shanghai Bailian Group began to build "full channel" in the department store industry, that is, the combination of online and offline businesses, not to shop entities, or to purchase physical stores on the Internet.

But is it really useful to be "full channel"? "The effect is not very obvious."

Wang Liuhe, Secretary General of the Shanghai Department Store Association, told reporters that he thought the department store was in pition and needed time from quantitative change to qualitative change.

Wang Liuhe, who has 28 years of experience in the department store, recalls that "before we asked the salesperson," ask for two, take care of three ". First receive the first customer. When he looks at the product, ask second customers. What do you need to buy and do?

。

At the same time, we have to take care of third customers. Please wait a moment.

"Wei"

A golden hour for a salesperson to take care of three customers has long passed, and now, "three salesmen and one customer are all upside down."

He said.

In addition to increasing electricity providers, Huijin in Xujiahui this year has also improved the bathroom, adding maternal and child rooms, lighting up the elevator lights.

Other department stores in Shanghai have also added barrier free passages and bench stools for customers to rest.

Perhaps these changes don't look so amazing, you may not even notice them, but they are not cheap, especially in the department stores.

Huijin department store only decorated the Xujiahui store. "After all, we need to pform a bathroom to 30 million, which will not be reformed in general."

Zhang Jianfang, deputy general manager of Huijin department, told us.

"It's easy to spend money. It's too easy to spend."

There was some frustration in his tone.

In recent years, department stores have left us with the impression that prices are high and brands are unknown.

"The rate of Chinese women's clothing (magnification is equal to the retail price of clothing divided by clothing cost") can reach 20 times as high as ninety percent off times, and 2 times that of women.

Wang Yao, director of the China National Business Information Center, said.

Rent the site to the brand dealer and start the "two landlord", which is responsible for the purchase and sale of the brand. But with the rising land price, the rental pressure is brought to the department stores, and the increase in the cost of the department stores, together with the cost of manpower and water and electricity, has been handed over to the brand business.

Department stores know that they have no advantage in price, and are also trying to make other attempts, such as doing business on their own, launching online shopping mall and app.

Huijin is going to launch its own app in December, and the biggest change is that anyone can become a VIP member of the mall.

In the past, consumption of more than 500 yuan on the same day to get VIP Puka, gold card consumption to exceed 5000 yuan.

Now, if you download Huijin app, you can become a VIP member.

Huijin Xujiahui store and Tianshan Road store have a total of 140 thousand members, but the activity is not high. Only 7-8 or so million members spend at least once a year in shopping malls.

Members are originally an exclusive mechanism, allowing some people to enjoy special treatment, so as to cultivate their loyalty.

Huijin lowered his stance. First, it showed that members were no longer enthusiastic. Two, they wanted to record consumers' buying habits through app, so that they could know the preferences of each member like cookie.

In this way, membership may increase, but whether or not it can motivate them to buy is another problem.