when it comes to new retail, many people will naturally think of Parkson Youke, Boxma Xiansheng, Suzhou Eslite, Zhengda Youxian, Xiansheng Legend, Kitchen Xiansheng, Yintai Factory Store, Zhongbai Global Commodity Direct Sales Center and other new stores, and they will think of new retail forms such as O2O, omni-channel and member stores. Of course, these are beneficial innovations and explorations worthy of encouragement and expectation, but the more mainstream new retail should be the modernization and upgrading of traditional retail such as department stores, supermarkets and shopping centers. Only when these mainstream retail forms conform to the new economic normal, new market changes and new consumption changes, realize the transformation of Internet, experience, personalization, family and youthfulness, and meet the increasingly diversified consumer demand, can retail be truly called "new".
Not long ago, I read a report that the Friendship Store in Beijing has been lacking in change and innovation for 51 years. Although it is in a busy city, there are few shops, and the salespeople are waiting for retirement. The store has directly entered the "museum" from the past, which makes people feel sad. The retail industry serves life and the masses, and life is lively and full of changes. Retail without change and innovation is tantamount to waiting for a rabbit, carving a boat for a sword, or even seeking a fish from a tree.
the retail industry must not age with the aging of a generation. where should the "newness" of new retail be reflected? The following nine aspects may be indispensable.
1. Organize new products
No matter how high the tone of "de-retailing" is called, it can only be a tendency. It is called "retailing" and it is impossible to be truly insulated from commodities. Commodities will always be the main "content" of retailing, and commodity power will always be the core competitiveness of retail enterprises. Just as new consumption hotspots always change dynamically, hot-selling goods are never static.
For example, in the past few years, luxury goods received great attention, and the growth rate was extremely rapid. Later, luxury goods were favored by others, leading the way, and then fast fashion played the leading role. Now, sports are hot, but now sports are not "reappeared yesterday", but fashionable and intelligent sports.
Even if it's just necessities, people's consumption demand has changed greatly. Puffed foods, jellies, carbonated drinks and out-of-season vegetables, which were popular in the past, are becoming more and more unpopular. People are increasingly favoring healthy foods such as fruit juice and yogurt, and those foods and ingredients that are naturally grown and fresh without additives are undoubtedly more popular.
In the past, people paid more attention to quality, low price and high cost performance. Nowadays, more and more people pay attention to quality, individuality, service and the resulting consumption experience. More and more people like new and exotic products, such as drones, robots and other scientific and technological intelligent products, as well as cultural and creative brands, original products, handicrafts and so on.
Nowadays, retail enterprises do not talk much about selling goods, but are keen to emphasize providing services and leading new lifestyles. However, both providing services and leading lifestyles are inseparable from the support of goods, and the quality of services and the old and new lifestyles are closely related to product innovation.
therefore, the first priority of new retail is to have a steady stream of new products, which should not only reflect the consumption trend and direction of change in the new period, but also be forward-looking and leading, and also be consistent with the changes in consumption demand of mainstream consumer groups, so as to be close to the people and grounded.
second, develop new formats
nowadays, the experience format is highly anticipated by the retail industry. Shopping centers focus on eating, drinking, socializing, literature and art, department stores layout catering, children's play, supermarkets make fresh food, ready-to-eat food, on-site processing, etc., all in the hope of gathering customers, expanding sales and increasing income, and resolving the impact of e-commerce. Facts have proved that this is also one of the few ways for physical retail to resolve the crisis and get rid of the difficulties.
In recent years, shopping centers have gradually replaced department stores as the most mainstream retail form, and the trend of declining department stores and improving shopping centers has continued to this day, especially in catering, children, sports, entertainment and other formats. At a time when the trend of random shopping is obvious and business is changing from shopping destination to experience destination, the charm of business format is irreplaceable.
however, the introduction of business forms is by no means a once-and-for-all process, and it also requires continuous innovation and keeping pace with the times. There are two main innovations in the format:
First, introducing new formats. For example, in the past, only restaurants, cinemas, children's amusement and other experience formats were introduced, and now children's hospitals, moon center and pet parks are introduced. Shopping centers, department stores and supermarkets continue to reduce the business area of goods and lay out more experience formats, which should be a general trend and an important direction of format innovation.
the second is the transformation and upgrading of existing formats. With the development of catering in more and more physical stores, homogenization is becoming more and more common. If there is no differentiation adjustment, it will only fall into an endless price war. As a result, snacks, desserts and snacks of catering are prevalent, and the segmentation of the catering market is opened. The same is children's play, but the development path is becoming more and more vertical and subdivided. Some focus on serving preschool children, while others focus on primary school students and teenagers. The characteristics, differentiation and professionalism are becoming more and more obvious, which is undoubtedly an important way for business innovation.
It is an important principle of format innovation that people have nothing for themselves, people have something new for me, and people are new for me. Only in this way can the topicality, customer attraction and joint force of the format be brought into full play.
Third, create a new environment
Retail is actually an industry that looks at "faces". Those physical stores with high popularity and high sales are all good stores with high value and high standards. The supply and marketing cooperative environment and the old faces that have remained unchanged for decades are difficult to win in the current market environment. Without an innovative environment and atmosphere, there is no so-called "new retail".
there are three dimensions of environmental innovation, namely renovation, innovative display and atmosphere creation.
Renovation is an important and relatively easy content of retail innovation. In recent years, it has been adopted by quite a few enterprises, such as Wal-Mart and Gome, which have carried out large-scale store renovation and upgrading, and paid a considerable price for it. Gome once fell into a loss again in the first half of the year. Of course, the investment in renovation is necessary. The author observed that most of the stores that have no choice but to close their stores are old faces that have remained unchanged for a long time, which is also a reason for losing their appeal to consumers.
innovative display not only includes the upgrading of retail props, such as the upgrading of counters, shelves and other equipment, but also includes the innovation and change of category collocation, variety combination and commodity display, which is generally carried out in combination with business adjustment.
Atmosphere building is equivalent to store makeup, and it is a long-term and regular homework, mainly starting from the "five senses" experience, to enhance the store's face value and temperament.
if the environment is not innovative or the innovation is not timely, customers are prone to aesthetic fatigue; However, if the investment is too large, it will increase the burden on enterprises, so we must grasp the degree and do what we can. It is said that a well-known supermarket has invested too much in super equipment, and a well-known supermarket has invested more than 21 million yuan in exceeding the standard. All imported equipment is completely tall, but it has not brought about the growth of passenger flow and the promotion of sales, which has only increased the profit burden of enterprises in vain, and a considerable part of it has become an invalid investment.
In fact, the promotion of the environment, especially the creation of the atmosphere, does not mean that the greater the investment, the better. Sometimes, it can also make "smart strength". For example, some shopping centers and department stores are ingenious and attract rape flowers, gardenias, wheat fields, maple leaves, etc. into the stores, but the investment is not large, but it has received very good results, which is worth learning.
Fourth, applying new technologies
Some people say that new retail is not only about new technologies, which is of course correct, but the importance of new technologies to new retail is self-evident. Without the support of new technologies, new retail cannot be attached.
The new technologies in the retail industry can be roughly divided into two levels. One is the technologies of convenient service and improving consumer experience, such as mobile payment, smart parking, electronic price tag, online order, smart fitting, AR\VR experience, etc. These technologies are indispensable, and their absence or lag will affect the consumer experience. The second is to improve the efficiency of enterprise management, help upgrade the supply chain, and refine management technologies, such as mobile office, informationization, big data and other technologies. Without these, enterprises will be difficult to adapt to the competition under the new situation.
Retail industry is a labor-intensive industry, and it is also becoming a technology-intensive industry. The importance of technology to the survival and development of retail industry is becoming more and more prominent. The transformation of traditional enterprises such as Gome and Suning began with technology upgrading, and retail innovation attempts such as Box Horse Fresh Life and SF Sex also began with new technologies.
Therefore, retail enterprises should pay close attention to and closely follow up on new technologies, new equipment, new materials and new processes. If they want to do well, they must sharpen their tools first, and the retail enterprises that become "technology control" may win more.
v. Try a new model
In recent years, many retail enterprises are in trouble and their living space is getting more and more limited, especially department stores and supermarkets. This is the evil result of over-development of commercial real estate, and the growth of market demand lags far behind the uncontrolled supply of commercial area, resulting in "overcapacity" in the commercial field.
however, from the internal point of view, the limitation of the business model dominated by joint venture may be the main reason. Of course, joint venture itself is not a backward business model, but the joint venture of most enterprises is a variant joint venture, a joint venture that shirks responsibility and seizes achievements, a joint venture that is far away from the market, alienates customers and does not touch goods, and an excessive emphasis on charging and guaranteeing the bottom. This kind of alienated joint venture makes retail enterprises deviate from the commercial essence: they are neither familiar with goods nor customers, and naturally they are unprepared and at a loss under the drastic market changes. In contrast, enterprises that have done well in their own business, such as Credit Building, Fat Donglai, Yintai Xianshang and Yonghui Supermarket, have much less shock and more room for manoeuvre.
innovation mode: firstly, we should reform and optimize the current leading joint venture mode to make it closer to the market, demand and change, so that retail enterprises can bear more business responsibilities and share more business risks, and really fight the storm in the "sea" of the market; Second, we should actively explore and try new modes such as direct self-operation, own brand, joint procurement and customized underwriting.
At present, various new business models are emerging one after another, such as buyer system, factory store, large joint mining, cross-border mining, etc., which are worthy of attention, learning and reference; Anhui Lecheng Supermarket, Henan Jinhaolai Supermarket, etc., are searching for high-quality goods all over the world, and developing self-management and self-ownership is undoubtedly moving in the right direction; Wuhan Zhongbai Global Commodity Direct Selling Center is said to combine the strengths of Costco and Aldis, and Shanghai Parkson Youke pioneered the differentiated direct selling model. It is said that the passenger flow increased by 8 times and the sales increased by 3 times ... All kinds of efforts not only greatly enriched the retail market, but also provided useful reference for more retail enterprises to innovate models.
VI. Establishing New Management
The current predicament of the retail industry is largely due to the extensive and inefficient management.
In the past "golden age", too many enterprises were keen on staking, accustomed to scale-driven, and disdained fine management in the past, because they made money lying down; Now I don't know how to implement fine management, so when the crisis comes, the profits of many enterprises have fallen off a cliff.
The economy is going down, and the retail market is depressed. However, China's economy is still growing at a moderate speed, and the cake of market demand is still getting bigger. According to common sense, retail enterprises should still be in the growth channel, rather than showing a global and industry-wide decline. Nowadays, the passenger flow and sales of many enterprises are declining, and their profits are plummeting, facing the test of life and death, which shows that the shortcomings of management are extremely prominent.
Fine management and cost control should be the basic skills of retail enterprises. If these lessons are done in place, many enterprises should not be at a loss and anxious as they are now. If we can lower costs and expenses, make the turnover of goods faster, make employees work more efficiently, and make all kinds of losses less, the impact on enterprises may be a decline in growth rate, not a decline in performance, and it will not be a loss.
Fine management and cost control are not one-sided reduction of expenses and costs, such as reducing employees' salaries, reducing expenses at the expense of environment and services, etc. They are all killing the goose that lays the golden egg and quenching thirst by drinking poison. It is an indisputable fact that labor costs are high, but what enterprises need to do is not to reduce wages, but to stimulate the potential of employees and improve human efficiency. "The lowest cost when the salary is the highest" is very reasonable; Similarly, we should not sacrifice quality and experience to reduce expenses, but put an end to unnecessary losses and waste. All these need to be achieved through management. The establishment of efficient and refined management needs to start with institutional mechanisms, process systems, institutional settings, etc., and it is difficult to achieve without great determination and big moves.
VII. Playing with new marketing
It is becoming more and more difficult for retail marketing. It is an obvious fact that you don't have a good environment, good goods and good prices to have successful marketing. You have to be able to play, be able to "blend in" with customers, and have a buzz. In short, you should tell some stories, play with some feelings, and seize new consumption hotspots.
according to my observation, in the first half of the year, a few enterprises made ingenious marketing and achieved remarkable results, but most of them were still traditional routines, such as discounts, gifts, purchases and discounts, lottery, etc., which were not new at all, not only sacrificing gross profit and profit, but also having very limited effect on attracting and attracting consumers.
The marketing of retail enterprises is inseparable from the price factor, but how to play the "price card" well is very knowledgeable. It is very important to match it with appropriate activities, atmosphere and packaging publicity. As the saying goes, "Sexiness is not a bottomless exposure, but a looming exposure in the right place", and activity design, atmosphere creation and promotion are "looming" or "just right". For example, Tmall built a live broadcast platform, and JD.COM teamed up with Headlines to launch the "Beijing Strip Plan", which focused on soft penetration rather than "hard and wide".
Good marketing may not be excessive, which will lead to "aesthetic fatigue" and low efficiency of resource investment. Good steel should be used in the cutting edge. If Taobao "Double 11" is not once a year but once a month, the effect will be much worse. To play new marketing, we need to form a young team that can play in the city. Marketing needs a young mind and passion to come out and spend. No one wants to see solemnity.
VIII. Establishing new cooperation
Another important aspect of new retail is new cooperation. In the past, retailers were very strong as "Party A", and suppliers were treated unfairly for a long time, and their interests were not properly protected. Therefore, ten years ago, the Ministry of Commerce and other five ministries and commissions joined forces to establish a "Measures for the Administration of Fair Trade of Retailers and Suppliers" for adjustment, but the effect seems to be limited.
nowadays, the strength of stores and brands has shifted, brands have more channels to choose from, the growth of retailers has stagnated, and the importance of a single retailer to brands has been greatly reduced. Therefore, we can see that it is difficult and expensive to attract investment for new commercial projects, and many retail enterprises are in urgent need of adjustment, but it is difficult to raise enough and suitable brand resources.
Of course, whether it is the strength of retailers in the past or the popularity of brands nowadays, it doesn't matter whether it is right or wrong, but it is just a normal manifestation of the imbalance between supply and demand in the market. Therefore, in my opinion, whether retailers charge "channel fees" or "guaranteed prices", or whether brands demand "replenishment fees" or "anti-guaranteed prices", it is beyond reproach under the market conditions at that time. The key is to recognize the situation clearly and adapt to the changes.
For retailers, there are three aspects: first, fully respect and take care of the interests of suppliers, gradually reduce the dependence on "channel fees", and do not take the fees from suppliers as the main source of profit; The second is retail.