still be made in the mall? This is a question that many restaurant owners want to know right now. Especially under the repeated epidemics, as the popularity of shopping malls has significantly weakened and community business models have emerged, the voice of catering escaping from shopping malls has become louder and louder.
But at the same time, many catering companies still choose to enter shopping malls in order to expand their brand influence. For a time, the mall seemed to have become a "siege" for many catering people. "Should we enter or leave" was a question.
01
On the one hand, shopping malls and restaurants are "fleeing"
When Shanghai Westgate Town first brought the concept of "MALL" to domestic consumers in 1997, catering at that time was only an absolute supporting role in the mall.
However, around 2010, with the development of the online Internet, the operating conditions of shopping malls with clothing retail as the main business format plummeted, and catering became the main attraction of shopping malls.. All well-known brands of restaurants have entered shopping malls one after another, trying their best to get a good store.
But now, many catering people have discovered that the shopping mall is not as sweet as .
According to relevant statistics, only 10% of restaurants in shopping malls across the country will be profitable in 2021, 20% of restaurants will be able to operate at breakeven, and the remaining 70% of restaurants will all be losing money.
"In just one year, the number of restaurants in our shopping mall has been closed from 60 to 33 now, and almost half of the stores have been closed. There used to be 8 restaurants around me, but now only 3 of us are left. It’s so miserable,” said a dining friend.
It is said that in current shopping mall catering stores, 70% of the stores will change their owners within a year, and closing stores has become the norm. A restaurant that was open two months ago may suddenly disappear two months later. Why does this happen with
? Catering O2O believes that the main reasons are as follows:
1. Shopping malls themselves are seriously involved, and the customer gathering effect is weakening.
With the process of urbanization in China, the number of shopping malls is only increasing, and more and more shopping malls are opening.
According to China Chain Store and Franchise Association annual survey statistics and third-party data, there will be nearly 500 new shopping malls across the country in 2021. As of the end of last year, had approximately 6,300 shopping malls in operation nationwide.
With so many shopping malls, directly reduces the "gathering" effect of shopping mall passenger flow . In the past, the catering industry took advantage of the "traffic" of shopping malls, but now catering has become the responsibility of shopping mall traffic.
For most catering companies that have not yet reached the "bring their own traffic" level, entering the mall is tantamount to "seeking death."
2. Shopping mall catering competition is fierce, and there are various restrictions
Today's shopping malls are becoming more and more like "food courts" . The proportion of catering is constantly increasing, and competition among restaurants is becoming increasingly fierce. Shopping malls have already entered the red ocean of catering.
Beijing Heshenghui Shopping Center has 730 shops, 279 of which are restaurants. Hangzhou Yintai City , the proportion of catering facilities is as high as 58%; of the 9 newly opened shopping malls in Shanghai in 2021, most of the catering proportion exceeds 40%.
In addition, catering companies and shopping mall stores must accept the unified management of the shopping mall. Therefore, there are various restrictions in terms of cashier systems, operating hours, takeout processes, marketing promotions, and many other aspects.
Especially due to the restrictions on business hours, shopping malls are becoming more and more useless for many catering categories targeting morning markets, night markets, and seasonal markets.
Coupled with the high rent and high cost of in high-end shopping malls, many catering companies are working hard to operate . With the epidemic recurring, whenever there is a change in the surrounding area, the shopping mall is always the first to be "affected in various ways", making it increasingly difficult for catering companies to make profits.
shopping mall, , once a "fighting arena" where catering brands competed to enter, has unknowingly become a "shura field" for catering.
02
On one side, cutting-edge brands are quickly "taking up space"
Although fleeing from shopping malls has become the consensus of many catering people, there are still many cutting-edge catering chain brands that continue to enter shopping malls.
According to Yingshang.com big data, in 2021, the overall restaurant opening and closing ratio was 1.12, showing a slight expansion . Except for the ratio of open and closed restaurants in complex restaurants, which is less than 1, the other subcategories are all greater than 1; driven by the "tip economy", the ratio of open and closed restaurants and bars has even reached 4.95.
Among them, tea stores have expanded the most, with Hi Tea , Nayuki's Tea, Tea Momodo , Mixue Bingcheng , and 7 Fentian all having a net increase of more than 50 stores; peach-flavored tea brands With the support of Heytea, "Heji Taotao" has risen to the forefront; lemon tea represents the brands Neighborhood, Nengji and Uncle Qiu lemon tea, with a net increase of more than 20 stores;
has also opened a lot of coffee category stores, Rui Lucky Coffee has strongly expanded to more than 60 stores; new players such as Tim Hortons, M Stand, and ARTEASG have added a net increase of more than 30 stores.
Kuafu Fried Skewers Company and Xijie Fried Skewers have become popular and have opened many shopping mall stores.
Among the Chinese food categories, Xinxing Ice Room Extension Shop is the most fierce. Emerging brands such as Wentong Ice Room, Keming Ice Room, and Manhua Ice Room have opened more than 10 new stores.
The "noodle-eating" brand that exploded last year is ushering in its highlight moment. Less than a year and a half after Chen Xianggui was launched, it has more than 200 directly-operated stores across the country (including stores that have signed contracts to be opened). It opened in December last year alone. With 45 stores open, it has become a new brand in the Lanzhou Beef Noodle chain in shopping malls.
Since shopping malls have already become catering venues, why do these catering brands still enter shopping malls?
1: The mall has its own empowerment effect
First, the empowerment in terms of brand premium. The mid-to-high-end brand endorsement of the mall itself can increase part of the brand premium for catering companies, allowing many catering companies to reach a higher level in terms of brand reputation and influence.
Secondly, the empowerment of people. For catering companies, still has obvious advantages in shopping malls.
When consumers choose restaurants in shopping malls, they not only have a wider choice of cuisines, but it is also more convenient. As consumption power increases, people pay more attention to comprehensive consumption experiences such as shopping, leisure, meeting friends, and fitness, and integrate eating, drinking, playing and shopping. Only shopping malls can meet this demand.
At the same time, the traffic potential of various marketing operations carried out by shopping malls from time to time cannot be underestimated. In 2019, Chengdu Zhujiang Plaza held the "Chao Unbounded More than Five Years - 5th Anniversary Carnival" event.
According to official statistics, the passenger flow of Chengdu Zhujiang Plaza exceeded 170,000 on the day of the store celebration. In April this year, 15 of Hong Kong's SHKP malls launched intensive promotional activities, which directly brought the shopping mall traffic back to pre-epidemic levels.
2. Shopping malls facilitate catering expansion
For catering brands, how to expand rapidly is always a core issue. During the expansion of
, various problems such as store location, customer parking, dealing with various government departments, and customer disputes have arisen. has seriously hindered the expansion speed of catering companies. But shopping mall stores are different. The standardized operation of shopping malls can solve most of the problems for catering companies.
Moreover, once catering companies and shopping mall brands reach effective cooperation, brand expansion speed will be more stable. The best example of is the former dessert .
Especially now, a large number of catering brands have entered the sinking market in search of brand growth. For example, Haidilao opened 257 stores in third-tier cities and below in 2020, and added 344 more in the first half of 2021.
Compared with the high degree of involution of shopping malls in first- and second-tier cities, shopping malls in sinking markets are still the flow centers of the city.
3. Shopping malls have their own customer group screening function
Shopping malls are divided into high-end shopping malls, mid-range shopping malls and community shopping malls according to their positioning. The positioning of itself, coupled with the corresponding brand that attracts traffic, is equivalent to indirectly screening customers for . As long as catering companies rely on correspondingly positioned shopping malls, they can capture the corresponding precise customer groups.
Moreover, "One of the Commercial Real Estate Series Reports: Shopping Center Industry Spatial Calculation" released by a related media also showed that both macro indicators and industry indicators indicate the future of my country's shopping mall business. There is still huge room for growth.
It can be seen that even if escaping from shopping malls has become the choice of many catering people nowadays, in the long run, shopping malls still have "not a small value" to catering companies.
03
"To enter or to leave", catering people should choose carefully
The question is, should catering brands "enter or leave" shopping malls?
From the perspective of catering O2O, there is no specific answer to this question. Whether leaving the mall or entering the mall, caterers should make careful choices based on the brand's own positioning characteristics and the mall's positioning and stage.
1, positioning matches
. First, the theme positioning matches.
Therefore, catering companies need to have a thorough understanding of the mall’s positioning theme and then combine their own brand characteristics to decide whether to stay or enter.
Secondly, brand positioning matches. Catering people need to consider whether the shopping mall positioning is consistent with the brand positioning.
Taking Mixue Bingcheng as an example, Mixue is positioned as a mid-to-low-end brand and takes the affordable route, which does not match the basic positioning of mid-to-high-end shopping malls. Therefore, we can hardly see the Mixue Bingcheng mall store.
2, stage matching
Each shopping mall has its own development cycle, and the operational focus of the shopping mall in each development cycle is different. Newly opened shopping malls mainly focus on gathering customers, so they are more suitable for catering brands with their own traffic and high reputation.
After operating for 3-4 years, it has become mature and stable, and has become a well-known shopping mall. It has its own strong customer gathering capabilities, and is very suitable for emerging catering brands that urgently need to quickly establish brand influence.
Moreover, the answer to “entering or leaving” shopping malls for catering does not need to be absolute.
Many catering brands, after seeing the community catering boom, began to optimize their store structure. While retaining mall stores, they gradually tested the community store model. goes hand in hand, and benefits can be reaped from both ends.
In addition, catering can also optimize its own shopping mall store model. For example, reducing store area, reducing store SKUs, staffing the same post system, standardizing dishes, etc., in order to reduce store rent and labor costs of shopping mall stores and increase operating profits.
Therefore, catering people do not need to "resist" the market too much, nor do they need to "follow" the market. Considering many factors, enter when you should enter and leave when you should.
Source: CateringO2O
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