Why are e-commerce companies competing to lay out offline when physical stores are frequently closed?

At present, the main topic discussed by many physical store owners in Changsha is that "physical store business is getting harder and harder now", and even the stalls on Jiefang West Road are so good.

Three or four stores are empty. The rent is increasing, the labor cost is rising, and more importantly, the customers intercepted by the e-commerce industry have made the physical store look very depressed, and even the industry called 20 16 the "closure" of the physical store.

Year ". On the contrary, under the large-scale layout of e-commerce, physical stores are frequently opened. Where is the way out for physical stores?

Go to a hot physical store.

A street on Jiefang West Road in Changsha, known as the city that never sleeps, has a large flow of people, good stalls and strong gold absorption. It is absolutely second to none in various business districts in Changsha, and shops are basically hard to find. Recently, when the reporter visited, he found that there were actually three or four shops with such high-quality booths posted the words "rental", and the shops had already gone empty.

"every other

The wall turned out to be a clothing store that had been open for several years. It's been posted for half a month and hasn't been transferred out yet. The owner of a digital store told the reporter that the store next door estimated that the business was not good and the cost was too high, so it was not allowed to transfer out.

The rent of a slightly larger shop here is 40 thousand to 50 thousand a month Now everyone likes to buy clothes online, and the physical store is under great pressure. "The hot summer season in June and July was originally the off-season of retail stores, and some stores faced it.

When the rent is renewed and the contract expires, it will simply be transferred out. "

The reporter learned that at present, the traditional physical store business is getting worse and worse. A kind of street shops like Wuyi Square, a high-quality business district, have excellent traffic conditions, geographical conditions and people flow conditions, and they are all closed. Many shops are subletting, withdrawing or even being vacant for a long time, not to mention other business districts.

In Gao Qiao, known as the city of local tyrants, many shops are vacant this year. Ling Jie, who is engaged in tea business, told reporters that in the past, if you wanted to find a better booth in the tea city, you had to find a relationship through an intermediary. The transfer fee is as high as 400,000 yuan. Now there are many empty shops waiting for you to choose, and the transfer fee has plummeted.

In addition, the newly opened physical shopping malls face difficulties in attracting investment. Some shopping malls bring popularity by providing free venues for merchants, while others put up the slogan of three-year rent-free investment promotion. ...

The reporter's investigation found that in Changsha, in addition to the hotel, entertainment and catering industries, employees in department stores, clothing stores, cosmetics stores and gift shops all reported poor sales. Among the more than 20 closed stores visited by reporters, department stores, clothing stores and cosmetics stores accounted for nearly 90%.

Under the heavy pressure of e-commerce and rent, physical stores entered the year of bankruptcy.

that

In fact, not only Changsha, but also street shops are closed. The physical stores of many chain brands in China seem to have entered the "closing year". Daphne, Metersbonwe Bang Wei, Jeanswest and other brand shoes and clothing stores are all in Xun.

Quickly reduce the number of shops. According to Daphne's profit warning report for the first half of 20 16, Daphne closed 450 stores in the first half of this year. Metersbonwe, Bang Wei and Bang Wei, once all the rage, also fell into a business dilemma.

Check, 20 13, nearly 5000 direct stores and franchise stores. By the end of 20 15, there were only 3,700 stores, and the number of stores sold decreased by about a quarter. Jeanswest closed 10 12 stores within 4 years.

In 20 15, there were only 2249 retail stores.

In the first half of 20 16, more than 80% of the closed stores of large department stores were located in first-and second-tier cities. According to the statistics of China Top 100 Chain Stores Report issued by China Chain Store & Franchise Association, the sales scale of the top 100 chain stores in 20 15 years was 2. 1 trillion yuan, only increasing by 4.3%, which was the lowest in the past years. The department store format even experienced negative growth.

The relevant person in charge of the China Chain Store & Franchise Association said that the physical store did arrive in do or die this year.

As we all know, with the in-depth development of e-commerce, consumers' shopping habits have quietly changed, and more and more "shoppers" have developed online shopping habits, and their purchasing power has been continuously transferred from entities to online. Online stores are not limited by trading time and geographical location, and the prices are open and transparent, the price comparison is convenient, and the after-sales guarantee system is improving day by day, which is also the reason for attracting more and more citizens to join the online shopping army.

In addition to the impact of e-commerce, there are also reasons such as weak growth of the real economy, high labor costs, rental costs, and high taxes and fees, which have eroded the low profits. At the end of 1990s, chain stores began to develop greatly, and the rent generally expired from 10 to 15. Most of the rent has expired recently, and the cost of rent has at least doubled. Some supermarkets and department stores with low gross profit margins have been unable to renew their leases.

"Real?

Sports shops basically work for landlords. "A boss who runs mobile phone accessories on Jiefang West Road told reporters that his five-square-meter shop used to rent only 3,000 yuan, but later the landlord saw that his business was good and it went up.

5,000 yuan, and now the monthly rent is as high as 10,000 yuan. "Now many young people buy mobile phone protective cases online, and their business is barely strong, earning some money a month. If you can't do it, you can only give up business. "

Layout e-commerce reverse operation, open physical stores to grab customers.

When traditional physical stores were eliminated by e-commerce and entered the tide of bankruptcy, e-commerce did the opposite and frequently opened physical stores offline.

"Xiaomi finally opened its first physical store in Changsha in Wangfujing." Yesterday, Xiao Yi, a citizen, took photos of his experience in Xiaomi Store in a circle of friends, and the fans looked happy.

Except for ...

In addition to Xiaomi, in fact, e-commerce giants have already begun to take the physical route. There is a royal mud workshop in Changsha. Last year, I opened an image experience store under Wal-Mart in the pedestrian street, and this year I opened a physical store in the physical commercial complex such as Century Jinyuan.

Other big brands have also accelerated the pace of opening physical stores in the past two years. In addition to e-commerce giants such as Alibaba, JD.COM and Jumeiyoupin, there are also many e-commerce brands such as online clothing and masks such as Mojia and Inman.

Why should e-commerce lay out physical stores? According to the clerk of the Royal Nifang, the business area of about 30 square meters costs 600,000 to 700,000 a year, and there is not much room for profit. "As a brand that started from the Internet, Royal Nifang opened a store on the pedestrian street mainly to expand offline stores. In contrast, profits may not be so important. "

open

Setting up offline stores and establishing a good image is the original intention of many e-commerce, and it can also make up for the inherent shortcomings of e-commerce: online shopping can not bring users a better product experience, and the other is the "last one" that has been committed to solving.

Kilometers. " More importantly, when traditional retailers began to "get an electric shock", e-commerce not only had no advantage, but felt the pressure of competition because of the shortcomings of offline experience. Therefore, under the layout line, it becomes

An important link in the future development of e-commerce. Among them, establishing an experience center, solving the last mile problem and establishing a brand image have become important demands of e-commerce.

place

The physical store opened by e-commerce is not a physical store in the traditional sense. Take Dangdang as an example, its first offline physical bookstore is expected to debut in Meixi Lake in September, and in its planning, 1 1,000 physical bookstores will be opened in the future.

Dangdang offline bookstore is no longer a bookstore in the traditional sense, but more like a cultural experience complex. Bookstores include coffee, cultural creation, parent-child, social interaction, lectures, exhibitions and other derivative services, in-store reading, online ordering and express delivery.

Home, where consumers can get more experiences besides reading and buying books.

The real economy will not die.

When traditional physical stores are forced to close frequently by e-commerce, many people sing down the real economy and think that physical stores will be devastated under the impact of e-commerce. However, the e-commerce reverse operation line opens a physical store, and the response is getting better and better. It can be seen that the real economy will not die. After experiencing a fierce collision with e-commerce, it will eventually encounter the third road that is most suitable for its own development.

can

It is foreseeable that traditional physical stores will be "killed" in batches in the future under the double impact of e-commerce and e-commerce stores. In the future retail industry, products that are homogeneous and emphasize functionality will become less and less competitive, but only those products.

Products with eye-catching brands, affordable prices and first-class user experience will stand out. The new real economy, which combines e-commerce drainage, price advantage and quality experience service of physical stores, will be embraced in this round of big waves.

Have more winning chips.

There is an inevitable reason for existence.