Obsessed With Selling Live Goods Is Not Enough. A New Round Of Offline Retail Competition Has Quietly Arrived.

Some people say that the epidemic is like magnifying glass, magnifying every industry's "danger" and "machine".

Offline retail was almost swept away in the epidemic. Messi's department store, the largest retail department store in the United States, was moved out of the S & P 500 index, and its rating dropped from investment grade to junk grade. Within a few months of domestic blockade, regional department stores and brand agents have become normal because of insufficient cash flow. Those shops that haste to turn online are not only forced to slash prices, but also pay high commission on shipping to the network anchor, but they are still shipping in large quantities, hoping to rely on online growth to get a breathing space.

Online businesses that have not done well in the past few years have achieved unimaginable sales figures in the months following the epidemic, but at the same time, performance, sales and distribution of interests are also coming.

Today, the online battle is not over yet, and the battlefield under the line is reopened. As a senior executive of a department store said, "after the outbreak, it is the real crisis."

01. Contradictions and conflicts opened up by the epidemic

Since the outbreak, we have been able to see the news of the closure of department stores in some areas. For the industry, "department stores do not rely on selling goods to make money" is not a secret. When the epidemic is blocked, the depression of traditional department stores is expected.

"Users can not enter the shop to buy, there is a problem of cash flow in shops, unable to pay rent to the mall on time, and the cash flow of department stores is naturally not sufficient." One industry insider told the billion power company that the past department store profits usually came from stocks and other investments. Now the global stock market crash, the US stock market has flocked for the 4 time in a row, and has become the last straw of some department stores.

Fast response department stores, more or less, have some digitalized genes.

After being bought by Ali, Yintai department put forward the slogan of "five years of redevelopment and Yintai" at the end of last year. Under the control of Ali's gene support, it continued to carry out digital transformation. It has achieved initial success in half a year, and put forward the strategic plan of "Internet shopping as a live broadcasting base" and "making net red explosive products".

But in the view of Jiang Xinjie, President of Yintai business, the problems faced by traditional department stores in digitalization and online transformation are still grim. Problems that have not been encountered in the past have been revealed under the epidemic situation. "For example, delivery, someone wants to place orders to buy goods, but now that stores can't get in, they need the ability to leave and deliver goods." "While selling live goods, shopping guides are more aware of goods than general nets, but they lack the" trust "of users.

Another big problem is the offline retail businesses turning to online services. Tan Xiaohua, general manager of Tianhong Department's digital operation, has had his own experience. In March, a large live direct sale of Tianhong Department store, due to the high user enthusiasm, led to the sale of a single product and a temporary increase in the number of goods. This should be a good thing. But due to the excess of the order volume, the delivery time of a batch of customers is difficult to guarantee, and the customer service personnel can only explain to the users again. "This is the loss of a city on the service." Tan Xiaohua said, "offline retailers are too short of online service experience."

Perhaps online mode of operation, traditional enterprises can go to Tmall, fast, Li Jiaqi to learn. But when the traditional enterprises turn to the online force, they will find many new contradictions.

Many offline retailers have confirmed this to the billion state power. "In the past, online and offline are different teams, and now affected by the epidemic, offline stores must also be online. How can we prove that users are online or offline? The solution is to integrate online and offline teams and make adjustments in the organizational structure." Xu Shali, vice president of BBK group, told the billion power.

02. No deep digital transformation live is just a marketing.

"A lot of people think that online is shaking, fast, Taobao live, small programs, this is the most terrible place, but this is done on the platform built by others, but the tip of the iceberg of enterprise digitalization." Liu Dongyue, head of intelligent retail group, told the billion power.

The group is one of the brightest retailers in the epidemic. In February and March, the sales of clothing, sports, shoes and boots sold by small brands were ranked first in the country. Liu Dongyue was not surprised by this: "we have started digitization since 2014, and invested more money and energy than others. The logic of this matter is clearer. I never pursue a single field sales record, but let every field and daily sales volume average."

Looking at the outstanding retail enterprises in this epidemic, there are generally two characteristics: one is the large scale of enterprises and the ample cash flow, and the two is the early and rapid response of digitalization. Or they are complementary to each other. It is those companies who are never satisfied with the current situation and dare to embrace new technologies to get stronger and stronger on the crowded track.

As early as 2014, it had already posted two-dimensional code on the clothing of the next store. Yintai members had fully opened up with Alibaba members in 2017; in Tianhong Department's 2019 financial report, the R & D cost has reached 25 million 200 thousand, which is used for the digital solution Department of the company. It can also be argued that digitalization is not just about selling goods online.

In Liu Dongyue's view, the most difficult thing for enterprises to do digitalization is not the input of funds, but the pressure of decision-making. "You dare not make decisions before the market. One thing should be done, but even if you fail to see your achievements in the first 2 years, are you willing to stick to it? This determination is not acceptable to leaders of ordinary enterprises. Liu Dongyue bluntly said.

"In the past you did this, and many people thought it was a joke. They didn't know what you were busy with. Now there are no digitalized enterprises. Survival is a difficult problem." Jiang Xinjie describes this way. Yintai has already had discussions about the transformation of new retail business, and only after the acquisition of Ali did it have a definite plan to start the digital transformation. Alibaba CEO Xiaoyao Zi described Yintai as "old city transformation".

Now, Yintai's five year reconstruction plan has passed for half a year, and the advantages of Yintai digitalization are revealed during the epidemic. But when asked about Yintai's expectations in the next 5 years, Jiang Xinjie smiled and said he did not know. "New retail is something that retail and electricity providers haven't done. It's not clear that the strategy can be clearly drawn, because it's unknown, so we have to try." Jiang Xinjie said.

In the case of retailers who are rushing to transform under the epidemic situation, I am afraid they should consider the issue in the longer term. Tan Xiaohua said that many brands are crazy about "who sells many products" and "who 1 minutes turnover", but in fact, selling goods is just the beginning. "You have to consider whether your after-sales system is enough to support it. Is it a system of electronic commerce? If you do not have these, it is not a capability, just a marketing." Tan Xiaohua said.

03. After the outbreak, the next round of competition has begun.

Tianhong Department store, which has been established for more than 30 years, is still a young man in Tan Xiaohua's eyes. According to the announcement of first quarter results announcement in 2020, the number of supermarkets and convenience stores increased by 33% during the period, and the number of supermarkets in the home market increased by 103%. The number of stores and shopping center counters increased by 347%.

This achievement has not made Tan Xiaohua optimistic. As a builder of digital rainbow from zero to one, Tan Xiaohua has been in a state of anxiety recently. In April 18th, "2020 x PPT billion live live social networking summit", Tan Xiaohua's speech said: "after the outbreak, it is the real crisis." In the conversation with billion power, she has repeatedly mentioned that rainbow is still too young in the new retail market, and should learn from Tmall and Jingdong.

Industry shuffling is almost a consensus after the outbreak. When the warm and cold weather began in March, enterprises began to reveal their worries about the different actions to welcome the warmer. Some retail businesses are doing business on the Internet. They want to get a wave before they get warmer. Some companies have begun to quietly reduce online investment and turn back to line layout.

"Those brands that are crazy about PR online after March 15th, I think they will lose their opportunities online." Liu Dongyue said. He believes that if the offline retailers are too fascination with online sales data, brand employees are too fascination with online performance incentives, sooner or later, they will cause the lack of services under the line.

Xu Shali shared the same view. In the past, BBK has repeatedly stressed that online is only the premise of digitalization and intellectualization. "I suggest to the group that we should not regard online sales as the main KPI, because the retail industry is more important than service, and we can not hurt sales and services and brands because of the pursuit of sales." Xu Shali said.

But predictably, under the catalysis of the epidemic, the traditional retail industry is being forced to reshape. Through digitalized tools, online and offline services will be opened up, providing more innovative services and more efficient ways of operation. This is the only way for offline retailers and the next round of competition in the retail industry.

Yintai's shopping APP "meow Street" has been opened in the city without Yintai, and has achieved "2 hours service", which is faster than the general e-commerce platform. BBK group has completed the analysis of user demand data, and completed the "user digitalization", "operation number conversion" to "supply chain Digitalization", and nurtured "fruit one sister" such a red belt. Since its establishment, Tianhong is working hard to get rid of the label of "traditional department stores", and has completed the transition from retail companies to platform through the cooperation of WeChat and the empowerment of its brand.

Even a department store giant has indicated that it has launched new products and services to cope with more complex market competition in the future. Although it is not convenient to disclose it in the text, it will soon face the market.

Xu Shali told the billion state power that the domestic traditional department stores, compared with WAL-MART and other international enterprises, are actually backward in experience. But in terms of digitalization and online, the domestic and international stations are at the same starting line. "I have been in the retail industry for 20 years, and sometimes I feel numb, but this epidemic has really enlarged the digital accumulation, enlarged the people oriented concept and enlarged the user demand." Xu Shali said.