Focus Interview | "Shopping Mall" with Various Consumption Patterns Ignite Summer "Hot Economy"

In the first half of this year, China's commercial retail market recovered as scheduled. As an important component of the commercial retail market, department store shopping centers have seen significant year-on-year growth in sales and passenger flow. The department store welcomes customers from all walks of life and introduces many new consumption scenarios. And consumers are becoming more and more receptive to shopping, dining and shopping, leisure and entertainment, and experience, bringing the once distant department stores back into public life.

Why are department stores so popular among consumers? It's not that the mall is lucky, but that they all rack their brains and come up with clever ideas.

Some businesses precisely grasp the heart of being parents, planning interesting children's activities where children participate for free and staff accompany them throughout the journey, allowing parents to go shopping to their heart's content.

Some merchants try to save "shopping aesthetic fatigue" by running free markets into shopping malls, recruiting vendors, and selling a variety of fashionable and fun trinkets.

Han Fei is a resident of the Huilongguan community in Beijing. After work on Friday, she took her son to the Shoukai LONG Street Shopping Center, which is less than one kilometer away from her residential area.

Having a big shopping mall at his doorstep is something Han Fei has been looking forward to for a long time. Huilongguan is one of the most densely populated large communities in Beijing, with a population of nearly 500000. However, there has always been a lack of large comprehensive shopping malls, making it inconvenient for residents to shop.

In recent years, Beijing has accelerated the construction of an international consumer center city, increased the layout of commercial projects in needed areas, and opened a series of comprehensive shopping malls, including the first opening of LONG Street.

Here, not only can shopping be done, but also various facilities such as restaurants, children's playgrounds, cinemas, etc. can provide consumers with a one-stop solution to meet their needs for food, drink, and entertainment.

All functions are available, and since its opening at the end of June, the first Long Street has been very popular, with a daily passenger flow of around 20000 and weekends reaching 40000 to 50000.

It's a small fire, this performance is not something that can be earned just by lying flat. Behind it lies the heart of the mall. The operation policy of the shopping mall has conducted extensive research on the market and consumer groups, and carried out a series of meticulous planning.

This summer, LONG Street organized multiple children's activities, such as water polo battles, fairy tale themed parades, parent-child fun basketball games... Many families with children came to catch up with this lively scene.

Innovation is the driving force of development, and the department store and shopping industry is no exception. According to statistics, in June and July of this year, the overall passenger flow and sales of department stores and shopping centers in China have significantly increased compared to the same period last year, with an average increase of about 20% in passenger flow and an average increase of about 15% in sales. Summer consumption has shown a diversified, energetic, and continuously improving trend.

In recent years, consumer consumption patterns have undergone significant changes. People are becoming more and more accustomed to online shopping. To attract them to go out of their homes and consume in physical stores, it is necessary to meet the diverse needs of consumers in daily life and develop more functions that cannot be achieved through online consumption. This is one of the reasons why comprehensive shopping centers like LONG Street are so popular. In addition, accurately targeting the target audience and finding their own differentiated advantages are also common characteristics of this department store that wins in competition during the summer.

The Box Outward Youth Center, which opened in May this year, is a typical representative.

Doudou is a skateboarding enthusiast who practices skateboarding at the mall's skateboarding rink three to four days a week. Young people like Doudou are the target consumer group of this shopping mall, and the main selling points of the mall are fashion, youthfulness, and vitality.

The planning team conducted detailed market research on the needs of the younger generation and proposed a new concept: to use curatorial retail to turn shopping malls into "meeting rooms" for young people.

Practicing skills and making new friends, young skateboarders unlock happiness here. After playing skateboarding, take a look at the nearby shops that collect various sports trendy brands and are also very affordable. Even playing and buying are all happily solved.

The Box has created many consumer scenarios for young people in the mall, including basketball, cycling, running, yoga, music, and coffee. The decoration also presents different styles, attracting different consumer groups to come here for one-stop shopping.

Yi Shaohua, Director of the Market Circulation and Consumption Research Office of the Institute of Finance and Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Creating new scenes is also an advantage of physical department stores. Integrating new sports and animation formats into traditional retail and shopping centers can better meet modern people's complex needs, such as the pursuit of ritual and relaxation in life, in the creation of new consumption scenes.

Creating new consumption scenarios and gathering relevant brands to form themed consumption, Shenzhen's physical department stores are also exploring new avenues. What interesting attempts do they have?

At the end of April this year, the first "pet complex" in Shenzhen opened at Shenzhen Ruiyin Shopping Center.

Xu Xinrui, born in the 1990s, is one of the co founders of a "pet complex". The so-called "pet complex" refers to inviting multiple pet related brands to form a pet themed street through joint ventures, and then flexibly organizing activities and developing additional products to form an industrial chain consumption.

This complex, covering an area of over 2000 square meters, gathers various cute pet related shops such as pet grooming, amusement parks, hotels, newsstands, pet supplies stores, and also thoughtfully arranges coffee shops for owners to relax.

Since its opening three months ago, this "pet complex" has been very popular among pet lovers, and more and more people are gathering to take their pets and themselves for a walk.

This mall has a total of 12 different consumer themed communities. This is a themed consumption area that integrates bookstores, record stores, cultural and creative stores, coffee shops, etc. Its target audience is urban consumers who love literature, music, and art.

However, through these hot consumption scenarios, we still need to see that facing the impact of online consumption is still a huge challenge for the physical department store industry.

Yi Shaohua, Director of the Market Circulation and Consumption Research Office at the Institute of Finance and Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: The overall level of information transparency is improving, making consumers more savvy and cautious to a certain extent. This has put higher demands on the operation of businesses, forcing commercial enterprises to shift from one-time sales to creating so-called new customer relationships and establishing longer lasting connections with consumers.

How to make what is not hot heat up and let what is "hot" continue to heat up? The fundamental solution may be to achieve the transformation and upgrading of traditional physical department stores with a business philosophy that is more adaptable to modern markets and consumer demands.

Yang Qingsong, Secretary General of the China Department Store Industry Association: We need to improve our service methods to enhance customer experience, bring more offline traffic, and increase sales. Digital transformation, digital upgrading, and gradually filling the gap with online platform competition through digital means.

The functions of department store shopping centers are more and more, and the consumption scenarios are more and more new. People's eating, drinking, playing, and TESCO Group one-stop solutions are constantly satisfying their experience. Once upon a time, department stores became increasingly distant from people's lives. However, difficulties and opportunities often come together. Seizing opportunities amidst difficulties, accurately positioning, adapting to changes, and constantly upgrading, can lead to new life.

Editor | Li Jing, Zhang Weize

Camera | Liu Wen and Yuan Chenggang

Editing | Zhao Yunlong, Liu Peiyu, Ou Pengpeng