The Old Department Store Also Did Not Get Over It. After 23 Years Of Opening Up, The Zhanjiang Store Finally Closed Its Doors.

Guangzhou Guang Bai Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Guang Bai shares") announced in the evening of January 17th that the Zhanjiang store was located at No. 45 people's Road South, Xiashan District, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong. It opened in September 23, 2011 and closed down in December 31, 2019. The reason for the closure is due to the downside of market environment and intensified competition.


Reporters learned that Guang Bai shares are the largest retail sales department in Guangzhou and the leading department store in Guangdong. The company ranks fifty-sixth in the list of China's top 100 chain enterprises released by China Chain Store Association in 2018. The main service market of Guangzhou 100 shares is Guangzhou and other cities in Guangdong province. The department stores in the region are more developed, and many local and foreign retail enterprises have opened stores in the region. With the increasing commercial complex and shopping centers, the market competition is more intense.


Guang Bai shares explained that closing the Zhanjiang store would help reduce the impact of deficit stores on the company's performance and long-term development and optimize the structure of the company's stores. In the process of closing down the disposal of the Zhanjiang store, there are compensation for the owners and tenants, staff compensation and other expenses. It is estimated that the net profit attributable to the parent company in 2019 is about 38 million 90 thousand yuan.


Public information shows that Guang Bai shares opened a store in Zhanjiang in 1995. In 2007, the Zhanjiang store of Guang Bai shares ceased business after the lease expired. Guangdong min Da Investment Group Co., Ltd. expanded the Zhanjiang min Da business building at its original site, and continued to work together to create a new Zhanjiang store. In September 23, 2011, the Zhanjiang store new store of Guang Bai shares was reopened, operating from one floor to six commercial sections, covering an area from more than 3000 square meters to 35 thousand square meters. Over the past 12 years, the operation of Zhanjiang branch of Guang Bai stock has achieved sales volume of 1 billion 300 million yuan, which is the benchmark for the western Guangdong Department store business. At that time, Zhanjiang store was the first and largest local department store in Zhanjiang. It was also the first chain store in the history of Guang Bai department store.


The reporter took a look at gaide map and noticed that the Zhanjiang branch of Guang Bai shares was surrounded by a large number of new commercial bodies, such as Dingsheng square, Wanda Plaza, Huadu Hui, and so on.


The industry has said that in the environment of the overall prosperity of the industry and the diversion of electricity providers, the increase of experience consumption and abundant non shopping elements adopted by Guang Bai shares can effectively enhance the defensive attributes of the company, reduce the turnover rate of passenger flow, and ensure the stable growth of the same store.


Gu Qian, an analyst with Shanxi securities, said that with the increasingly fierce competition in the shop, the department store has been trying to introduce the theme exhibitions and activities or provide various shopping experiences for the purpose of draining, so as to keep the customers fresh and extend their stay time.


According to a survey conducted by the Chinese general merchandise business association, up to 77.9% of the surveyed department stores have added experiential consumption elements to the physical stores. Nearly 40% of the department stores surveyed reported that their experiential consumption accounted for 10% or less of the total retail area, and nearly 30% of the department stores experienced 11-20% of the total retail area. With the increasing demand for experiential consumption, the proportion of investment in this aspect will also rise. The most common way to increase experiential elements in department stores is to organised thematic activities and exhibitions, which can attract large numbers of people, but department stores also need to increase customer retention through the unique competitiveness of goods and services, understand their shopping habits and encourage them to spend in shopping malls. High quality products and intimate value-added services complement the deep shopping experience to revitalize the sales volume of enterprises.


In the case of Gu Qian, the operation of the department store industry is closely related to the macro economy. Since the 2019, the growth rate of the macro-economy has been slowing down gradually. Although the zero cumulative growth rate of the industry in the first half of this year has stabilized steadily, it has been decreasing month by month in the second half of the year. Affected by double ten promotions and low base effect, the growth rate in November was only 8% in the second half of the month. Since 2019, the growth rate of optional consumer goods related to department stores has been more flexible. Among them, the growth rate of clothing and gold jewelry has dropped to varying degrees. Only cosmetics maintain double-digit high growth. Cosmetics have replaced clothing as the main profit growth point of department stores.


Gu Xi admitted that although sustained impact from high-speed online growth, excellent traditional department stores can grasp consumer demand in a timely manner, refocus on the essence of physical retailing, and seek opportunities for endogenous growth through adjusting marketing strategies and commodity mix structure, digitalized operation to revitalize stock members' assets, return products and services, and increase experiential elements, and maintain a certain rate of extension and expansion, and continuously improve market share.


The earnings report from Guang Bai shares also showed that in the first half of 2019, 8 stores such as Guang Bai Beijing Road store, Guang Bai Conghua store, new Daxin Dongguang store, new Daxin Kaiping store, Guangzhou Yangjiang store, Maoming Donghui City store, Jinshazhou Guang Bai Plaza, Guang Bai Qingyuan store and so on, have completed the optimization upgrading, involving an adjustment area of nearly 15 thousand square meters. At the same time, the company firmly grasps the direction of consumption, scientifically selects the brand positioning market which is in line with the positioning, and actively promotes the upgrading of commodities.


As of the end of the reporting period, the company has opened 27 stores in Guangzhou and other cities in Guangdong, including 11 comprehensive department stores in Guangzhou, 3 shopping centers, 2 professional stores, 1 professional watch shops, 9 9 general merchandise stores and 1 1 shopping centers in other cities in Guangdong. All the stores in the company are direct outlets, with a revenue of 3 billion 701 million 20 thousand yuan in the first half of 2019.


By the end of June 2019, the number of members exceeded 1 million 500 thousand, of which the number of electronic members exceeded 870 thousand. In the first half of 2019, more than 510 thousand people had obtained information or consumption through the interaction of GMV1766. Following the 4A service and store information, we will provide quality and convenient services to customers.


Gu Qian expects that the whole channel digitalization plan of the department store will pay more attention to the drainage and marketing of members, and the importance of stock member operation will become more prominent in the post traffic dividend era. The department store industry will mature as a whole, and the slow growth of the future will become a new normal. It will develop into a more rational and more experiential value driven mode, which will help participants return to the fundamentals and refocus on the essence of physical retailing.