Last week, the most sensational news in Beijing's business world was that the old shopping mall, Sate Shopping Center, which has been open for 27 years, will close its store in June this year.
In recent years, Sate is not the first traditional shopping mall to close or transform. In 2016, Huatang Mall Shilibao Store closed its business, Beichen Shopping Center closed in 2018, Zhuangsheng Chongguang Department Store North Pavilion closed, Shuang'an Shopping Mall announced its transformation, and Chang'an Shopping Mall announced its closing and renovation in March 2019.
In CBD, in Xidan, in Wangfujing... old shopping malls in the core areas of Beijing City all face challenges. The challenges come from both the e-commerce era and the rapidly rising new suburban business districts.
Last week, the reporter went to multiple business districts and visited many old shopping malls in urban areas and new shopping malls in suburban satellite cities. Whether it is an old shopping mall or a new shopping mall, "unfortunate" shopping malls have their own misfortunes, but "happy" shopping malls always have similarities, which is to maximize their personality to meet the needs of different target consumers.
CBD Business District
Pattern: a trendy place. Personalized services have begun to be launched.
Guomall Mall
Beijing’s oldest luxury goods specialty
Opening time: 1990
Business area: 75,000 square meters
Guomall, which is only 2 kilometers away from Saite Shopping Center, was opened two years ago. According to statistics made by Yingshang.com through research, the sales of Guomao Mall reached 9.08 billion yuan in 2018, ranking among the top 72 national shopping malls included in the statistics.
China International Trade Center on Chang'an Street itself has industry benchmarks such as China Hotel and China Trade Office Building. When Guomao Mall opened in 1990, it was the first high-end shopping mall in Beijing. In 1999, the famous luxury brand Louis Vuitton opened its second store after the Wangfu Hotel, and the Guomao Mall also became the first shopping mall in Beijing to introduce Louis Vuitton stores. Since then, Guomao Mall has become the most luxurious trendy place in Beijing, and has even become a must-see hot spot on the star-chasing map.
Today's Guomao Mall has undergone transformation and expansion in Phase I, Phase II, Phase III A and B phases. At noon last Thursday, the reporter entered the mall from the second floor of the underground and found that it was still innovating, and large advertisements for the new district "expanded wonderfully" can be seen everywhere. Unlike the original structure of traditional shopping malls, the Guomao Mall has become a standard shopping center, and experiential consumption including ice skating rinks and high-end barber shops are involved.
Mr. Wang, who accompanied his wife to visit the store, chatted with reporters: "The main focus here is high-end, including catering, and there are many high-end consumption with the 'Michelin' bloodline. In short, as long as you bring enough money, you can really get a different enjoyment." Mr. Wang also said that the current Guomao Mall has expanded from Chang'an Street to Guanghua Road, and has to pass through Jingmao Street through an underground passage in the middle. It is too big and easy to get lost. The reporter found that Guomao Mall actively embraces Internet technology. Its WeChat official account provides electronic maps, and also sets up navigation robots in many places in the mall to provide indoor navigation services.
SKP
The most profitable shopping mall in China
Opening time: 2007
Business area: 120,000 square meters
According to Yingshang.com data, Beijing SKP's sales in 2018 reached 13.5 billion yuan, the largest number of all shopping malls in the country that received statistics.
reporter came to SKP last Thursday afternoon. Although it was a weekday, the parking lot was already a little crowded. On the first floor of the mall, a trendy brand is doing a themed event. Through the crowds on the inner and outer three floors, you can vaguely see the beautiful figure in the center. "It feels like it is a little younger than Guomao. Some of the first-tier luxury goods and light luxury goods are still the first stores in Beijing." Ms. Yu is a member of SKP. She highly respects the fashion atmosphere of the mall. "Fashion is just one step ahead, so I still value the new things here." The reporter found that among SKP's stores, some are not only the first stores in mainland China, the first stores in the country, but also the first stores in Asia. It is very sticky to consumers who pursue the most cutting-edge fashion.
In order to further grasp consumers, SKP has also launched a buyer store, using big data to segment consumer groups, and then experienced buyers select personalized products and display them in the store for consumers to choose.
Xidan Business District
Pattern: A young choice. The post-00s have become a new target customer
Xidan Joy City
The first large shopping center in Xidan business district
Opening time: 2007
Business area: 115,000 square meters
0 Last Friday at 5 pm. Before the time to get off work, the Xidan business district was already crowded with people.
"Now I am not as obsessed with Xidan as before. I am mostly close to shopping, but when friends gather, Xidan is still our first choice, because this location is not too far from wherever we come from. Everyone works and lives in various corners of Beijing. On the contrary, Xidan is the most suitable." 28-year-old Jinling Xiaoxu said that Xidan Joy City is the first large shopping center in Xidan business district, and it looks a bit special among the surrounding traditional shopping malls.
The 9th floor of Joy City, melodious singing echoes in the theme block "Style Street". Middle school students wearing school uniforms sit on the stairs, holding up their mobile phones to shoot grassroots singers' performances in Mida Mini KTV.
In this theme block, middle school students are a common group, and the shops here are all the favorites of middle school students: in the hand account market filled with tape and hand account books, girls whispered to communicate recently popular transparent seals; in the trendy toy store, there are a wide range of genuine peripheral products of popular IPs such as "full-time master", "Natsume friend's account", and "Master of Demonic Way"; in the alien computer store, several boys are starting to experience it; in the miniature escape room store, laughter and frightening sounds are heard from time to time.
Hanguang Department Store
The strongest traditional department store in Xidan business district
Opening time: 1999
Business area: 40,000 square meters
Hanguang Department Store across one street, formerly known as Xidan old shopping mall Zhongyou Department Store . Now the sales of Hanguang Department Store is closely following Xidan Joy City, ranking second in Xidan business district, and is the strongest among Xidan traditional department stores.
reporter saw that spring is coming, and Hanguang is focusing on personalized beauty festival with experiential colors: the beauty area on the first floor is crowded with people, and the cabinet sisters are busy recommending the latest products to the ladies; several specially invited makeup artists from the brands are wearing microphones, teaching the tricks of makeup to the onlookers: "Look at the model's makeup. Although the foundation has been applied, if you look closely, you will find that the forehead and temples are slightly sunken, so we need to brighten these two parts..." And near the door, young girls lined up in front of a Lancome liquid foundation experience installation self-service pickup machine.
Her traditional business districts have made different choices in customer groups, operation methods and main categories.
Expert commented
Department Store Transformation requires thousands of stores and thousands of faces
"Old department stores in Beijing are indeed facing huge challenges, but they still have a large market space." Yang Qingsong, executive deputy secretary-general of the China Department Store Business Association, said in an interview that the increasing population of suburban areas has led to the rise of shopping centers in suburban areas, and e-commerce has also divided a considerable amount of customer flow, but urban department stores still have their own advantages: "The first is the location advantage. For example, Wangfujing Department Store and Xidan Hanguang are all the core locations of the core business district, and their rental income should be considerable. Second, the joint venture model adopted by department stores is very low, because the goods and personnel are basically provided by manufacturers, and department stores account for very little funds and have low operating costs. Third, compared with e-commerce, department stores can see physical objects and try them on, which is very important."
Yang Qingsong believes that the department stores in traditional business districts need to survive in competition among multiple regions and multiple business formats. In fact, there is no unified template. Instead, it must be decided based on the characteristics of the business district and the capabilities of the department store itself: "Tait Intime as an example, why can it be connected online and offline? Its current fee-based members have reached 1 million, which is not something that all companies can do. This must be done by large enterprises with resources and technical capabilities. If some large-scale department stores allow water, electricity and gas capacity to be increased, and the business district has this demand, it can add some catering, entertainment, and parent-child business formats. For example, Chang'an Shopping Mall is closed and renovated, with the goal of community-type shopping centers, which is to add what the community needs to into the department store. There is another type, which is small in size and is difficult to increase and transform. Then we all take the path of personalization and distinctiveness, and change to the theme of a certain category, and do it in relatively subdivided topics. For example, Tianhong National Exhibition Store is built into a department store with parent-child theme. ”
source丨Beijing Evening News
reporter | Sun Yi and Bai Ge (data source: Yingshang.com and Yingshang big data platform)
drawing | Geng Zheng and Liu Xiangya
supervisor | Wang Ran
edit | Lu Qi
process edit | Liu Jiezhang
