Seven Treasures Vanke successfully intercepted the flow outside the outer ring road! Suburban customers don't have to go to the city to buy big brands | Shanghai Vitality Mall ③ Outer Ring | Brand | Suburban

How to determine the true commercial vitality of a shopping mall? There is often a saying in the industry that on the most ordinary workdays, the passenger flow in shopping malls is often more intuitive and accurate. There is another version circulating in the market: observe the restrooms on each floor of the mall, and if you need to queue up, it indicates good business; The higher the floor and the fuller the restroom, the stronger the popularity of the mall. These statements have some truth.

Recently, at 11:00 am on a working day, the reporter arrived at Qibao Vanke Plaza in Minhang District, attempting to compare the observed situation with two sets of standards - the B1 floor, which mainly focuses on small restaurants, has the highest passenger flow, and the occupancy rate of each store is close to 100%, with continuous queuing and shouting; Observe the four entrances and exits of the shopping mall in the atrium on the first floor, with an average of thirty to forty customers entering each entrance every minute; On the second floor of the mid to high end clothing floor, there are an average of 1-3 customers entering and exiting or currently selecting from each store; On the 5th floor, in the large dining area, at the entrance of the "Xita Old Lady" store, people waiting have already sat in three rows; Outside the men's restroom on the 5th floor, two customers are queuing up; When the elevator reaches the B2 parking lot, it is mostly full.

The customer flow performance of Qibao Vanke is undoubtedly excellent. According to incomplete statistics, Qibao Vanke, with a commercial volume of 149000 square meters, can achieve an average daily passenger flow of 100000 people. For community businesses that are about to open for 7 years, this data is very impressive.

In December 2016, Qibao Vanke officially opened, and this shopping mall located outside the outer ring became a "internet celebrity" and its development momentum is getting better and better. After this year's May Day holiday, a review website compiled a list of the top 20 most popular shopping malls in Shanghai, with Qibao Vanke ranking among the top.

Regional first store strategy, suburban consumers no longer have to go to the city to buy big brands

Zhang Chen, who came from Nanjing to Shanghai for tourism, checked into a hotel in Xuhui District and made her first stop at Qibao Vanke. She came to check in at the popular bakery "B&C". This brand also has 6 stores in Shanghai, which are located in the core business districts such as Xintiandi, Nanjing West Road and Xujiahui. Qibao Vanke is the only project of the brand that goes out of the outer ring. Zhang Chen said that when choosing Qibao store, an important consideration is that there are fewer people queuing here and the shopping experience is better. Therefore, in the Shanghai tourism guide, many netizens recommend this store.

Jin Zexuan, a young man who lives in Songjiang, still remembers that he first came to Qibao Vanke because there was the first Apple direct store outside the outer ring here. Compared to experiencing shopping in the city, he could save half of his trip. For his girlfriend, the high-end fragrance counters gathered on the first floor of the shopping mall are also very suitable. "Buying big brands doesn't have to go to the city anymore," which is the reason why this young couple drove 40 minutes from Songjiang to Qibao.

In the view of industry insiders, homogenization of business formats and a focus on the middle and low-end are common challenges faced by shopping malls outside the outer ring and suburban areas. On the one hand, old chain brands are prone to causing customers aesthetic fatigue; On the other hand, due to considerations of their own brand value, many high-level brands resist the labels of "suburban" and "outer ring" and dare not easily establish themselves.

The combination of multiple factors often makes it difficult for these types of malls to continuously attract customers; And customers with higher consumption demands can only seek distance and go to the core business district with more diverse and fashionable formats.

And these are precisely the "shortcomings" that Qibao Vanke has been striving to avoid. The reporter learned that after nearly 7 years of operation, Qibao Vanke has continuously adjusted and upgraded its business format, introducing a large number of high-energy brands that used to only enter urban commercial shopping centers. With the brand lineup and consumer experience that only exist in core commercial districts, it continuously attracts consumers outside the outer ring.

For example, in 2016, Apple's directly operated store settled in Qibao Vanke, which is still the first store outside the outer ring to this day; Starting from 2021, the mall operators will strengthen their investment in high-end makeup brands, introducing brands such as Dior, Guerlain, and Chanel; Similarly, trendy brands such as SHAKESHACK, Lululemon, and Salomon, which are highly sought after by young people, have also made their debut in the outer ring. The constantly growing brand map not only takes on the blank space of trendy brands in the outer ring commercial district, but also distinguishes itself from the traditional community commercial entities in the surrounding area, bringing customers a high quality and freshness.

Qibao Vanke also focuses on differentiated upgrading of chain brands with a larger base in the shopping mall, which industry insiders refer to as "non-standard standardization of standard products.". Taking Swarovski as an example, in May 2021, this old store, which opened simultaneously with the mall, was upgraded to the brand's first Instant Wonder new retail space in China. The innovative and avant-garde design made the store unique. The store salesperson said that after the update, there was a significant increase in customer flow entering the store.

Accurately upgrading business formats to match customer groups and expanding community commercial coverage

Jiang Yuxin, who lives in Fengxian, studied at Songjiang University Town for her undergraduate degree. When she was in school, the Qibao Vanke, which was directly accessible by Line 9, was her most popular shopping mall. After graduation, she will still travel from Fengxian to Qibao. In her opinion, the constantly updated formats in shopping malls always make her feel constantly updated, and the key is that the brands are sufficiently rich.

"New" and "comprehensive" are also advantages commonly reflected by customers.

Industry insiders said that at the beginning of the opening, the core of Qibao Vanke was to build a full floor family entertainment and shopping park "built for home". As market trends continue to change, shopping malls focus on youthfulness and fashion, upgrading their brands in multiple formats such as light luxury, high-end beauty, catering, and experience, and continuously expanding their coverage.

The logic behind this is a precise customer profile. The mall operator has conducted research on the local customer base and found that before the large-scale shopping malls such as Qibao Vanke and MixC landed in Minhang, their main consumption directions were in commercial districts such as Xujiahui and Global Port. Therefore, in order to enhance its attractiveness to its customer base, Qibao Vanke also consciously "replicates" the business formats of popular commercial districts. At the same time, big data will reveal the consumption habits of the population, and shopping malls will introduce targeted brand combinations to match the consumption preferences of the target customer group as much as possible, making them more "one-stop" and convenient shopping experience.

Brand combination is beneficial for investment promotion work. For example, according to industry insiders, the entry threshold for SHAKESHACK, a popular hamburger restaurant, is that there are both Apple owned stores and lululemon in the business district. In the outer ring commercial district, there are not many who can meet this standard. "This is a mutually beneficial positive closed loop."

The fastest changing business model of Qibao Vanke is also the small catering brand on the B1 floor. Behind this is also a deep insight of the mall into consumers. At the beginning of its opening, in response to the traditional Shanghai cuisine style of Qibao Old Street, the main store "Da Shi Dai" was opened on the B1 floor. However, with changes in consumer demand, the attractiveness of the "big food generation" is increasingly decreasing. The mall operators promptly withdrew it and introduced many catering brands that are more popular among young people in the same area. The previously deserted areas have become hot again.

At Qibao Vanke, there are many tourists coming from Songjiang, Old Minhang, Xuhui Caohejing and other places, and the travel time is mostly more than half an hour. In the commercial real estate industry, projects with a radiation range of less than 3 kilometers are classified as community type, 3 to 6 kilometers are regional type, and over 10 kilometers are super regional type, exceeding the local "area" or "region". It is not difficult to see that Qibao Vanke, originally positioned as a "community business", has greatly expanded its radiation range.

Closely arranged marketing activities, continuously refreshing consumer experience

The last time Qibao Vanke went public was in 2021 when it collaborated with Xiaohongshu to hold a beauty festival. That marketing event not only strengthened the exposure of the upgraded beauty industry in the mall, but also brought higher topic and attention.

In addition to "hard" investment and location, "soft" marketing and services in shopping malls are equally important in attracting consumers.

Customer Cai Qunying noticed that the atrium on the north side of the first floor of Qibao Vanke is rarely empty. Different marketing activities bring exquisite exhibitions and markets with different styles, making her feel lively and innovative every time she comes. Currently, a pop-up food market called "Baiwei Shiqu" is being held in the atrium.

From the event information released by the mall, the replacement cycle of Qibao Vanke's large and small marketing plans is roughly one month. That is to say, not only does Qibao Vanke accumulate energy during holidays such as the Spring Festival and National Day, but also closely arranges various "small and refined" marketing activities every month, sometimes even without any festivals, just to continuously bring new ideas to consumers.

For example, since 2017, Qibao Vanke has been creating a "New Year's Eve Flower Market" during the Spring Festival period, with different themes each year, such as the Tang Dynasty Fenghua theme, cyberpunk style, etc., carrying new ideas in the inheritance. In the past two years, the limited market of "Moe Pet Park" has also been popular. This not only helps attract customer flow, but also provides more display platforms for brands in various formats within the mall, with different marketing activities positioned differently.

The emphasis of shopping malls on consumer experience is also reflected in the transformation and upgrading of internal spatial layout. Last year, Qibao Vanke demolished the giant "treehouse", which was once a feature of the mall's opening. To avoid aesthetic fatigue, a new layout will be carried out in its original location.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the continuous renovation and upgrading of the mall facilities that customers have developed a favorable impression of "even though it has been open for almost 7 years, the mall is still very new".