In the Internet era, how can brick-and-mortar stores meet the challenges and rejuvenate themselves?According to a questionnaire survey conducted by the research team of China Youth Daily on 226 small shop owners in more than 60 cities across the country, 814% of the surveyed small shop owners will use the Internet to broaden their business channels, 659% of the surveyed shopkeepers believe that the Internet has opened up more opportunities for small shops.
More than eighty percent of the small shop owners surveyed will use the Internet to broaden their business channels.
After resigning from a clothing store 3 years ago, Tian Tian, a post-90s generation, opened a flower shop. During the trial opening of the store, she opened some platform accounts to publish the information of the store. Tian Tian feels that now that the Internet is developing rapidly, many young people will search for information about eating, drinking and having fun through the Internet, and for small shop owners, they must accept the changes brought by the Internet. "In the past, when I was at work, I used to scroll through Douyin and Xiaohongshu, but at that time it was completely as a form of entertainment. After opening a store, you will use these platforms to consciously jump out of the perspective of entertainment and ponder the operation model and logic of the Internet from a business perspective, such as how to make interesting content and how to attract users' attention. ”
Xiong Mengjie, the post-95s owner of the Kaihua shop in Wuhan, also felt the charm of the Internet. A few months ago, she resigned from a state-owned enterprise and opened a flower shop with two friends, with Xiong Mengjie in charge of the online operation of the flower shop. ”
Xiong Mengjie remembers that when she first started operating the account, almost no one paid attention to it, but then suddenly a post became popular, which attracted the attention of many people at once, with more and more fans online, and many customers coming offline, and business was much better. When it comes to operational experience, Xiong Mengjie feels that the most important thing is to focus on content, and it also needs to be constantly updated to attract more people's attention.
According to the survey, more than eighty percent of the interviewed small shop owners try to broaden the business channels of small shops through the Internet, 544% of the small shop owners surveyed have tried shooting short**, 478% of the small shop owners surveyed try to cooperate with the platform and operate. Others: operating an online fan base (345%), find a professional team to promote drainage (25.).2%), live streaming (20.8%), etc.
The main difficulty of online operation of small stores: lack of professional talents and professional guidance.
Tian Tian feels that there are also some difficulties in operating a small store online, one is that there are many rules on the platform, and the content released will trigger "sensitive words" if you are not careful, so that the current will be restricted. In addition, the competition among merchants on various platforms is fierce nowadays, and it is not easy to stand out. "How to operate a good account is a relatively big difficulty I am facing now, and I hope that the platform can clarify the operating rules and give a certain traffic tilt to the small store. ”
According to the survey, for the difficulties faced by expanding the business channels of small shops through the Internet, the surveyed small shop owners preferred a lack of professional talents and professional guidance, and the selection rate was more than half (549%），36.7% of the surveyed small shop owners believe that it is a lack of visibility and low traffic, 354% of the small shop owners surveyed admitted that they did not understand Internet technology. Others: Professional teamwork ** high, unaffordable (33.)6%), will not operate **(33.)2%), the investment is large, the return is small (31.).9%), wasting energy and increasing costs (23.).0%), high logistics and distribution fees (168%), etc.
In April this year, the snack bar opened by Huang Yu and his girlfriend Fu Yue in Zizhong County, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, was officially opened. Topaz used to open a barbecue restaurant in Chengdu, and although it had a good reputation and had many repeat customers, it was still difficult to operate. "The catering market in Chengdu is very competitive, and there are many choices for customers, and many people will search on online platforms in advance, and they are reluctant to try unknown stores without traffic. Due to the lack of traffic and ** on the platform of the store, the business has been tepid and has not continued. ”
After returning to the small county, Huang Yu found that the business logic of the county is different from that of the big city, "The population base of the county is limited, and no matter how hard you exert yourself, there is not much potential to be tapped, unlike in Chengdu, where a tweet may become popular, and the business can explode immediately, but in the small county, spending the same time and energy to do the same thing brings relatively low returns." Huang Yu feels that the small county town still has the characteristics of a rural society, and the stores rely on word of mouth and old customers to bring new customers to achieve growth, so they will not focus on online business at present, "Some time ago, in response to the needs of customers, we opened a takeaway platform to take some online orders. ”
More than 60% of the surveyed small shop owners believe that the Internet can broaden the sales channels of small shops.
Lei Honghui, a 24-year-old guy from Yueyang, has opened a new Chinese tea shop and a fresh food store in the local area. Lei Honghui feels that the Internet provides more opportunities for small stores, and through online operation and communication, it can broaden the business radius and popularity of small stores, "If you can create an exclusive brand account and operate it properly, you may even have the opportunity to become popular all over the country." Lei Honghui hopes to make a small program in the future, including local eating, drinking, entertainment and brand characteristics, and traveling throughout Yueyang with "one click".
According to the survey, 659% of the small shop owners surveyed believe that the Internet has made it possible for small shops to develop more opportunities. Interaction analysis shows that the proportion of post-95 shopkeepers surveyed who believe that the Internet has increased the development opportunities of small stores is higher, which is 729%, followed by the post-90s generation (71.).4%）；The proportion of shopkeepers surveyed in first-tier cities is even higher at 727%, followed by second-tier cities (714%）。
Huang Yu feels that the Internet is a "double-edged sword" for small stores, if the product is good and the management is mature, the development of small stores can be greatly accelerated through Internet marketing, and the time cost of slowly fermenting by word of mouth can be reduced. However, if the product quality is not good and excessive publicity on the Internet, it will affect the reputation of the small store and eventually be "eaten up" by the traffic. "Whether it's online or offline, it's all about product quality. ”
What is the impact of the Internet on small brick-and-mortar stores?According to the survey, 642% of the surveyed small shop owners feel that the Internet can broaden the sales channels of small shops and increase sales, 478% of the small shop owners surveyed believe that they can maintain their customer base through online social platforms, 451% of the surveyed small shop owners believe that it is more necessary to pay attention to product quality and after-sales service, 420% of the interviewed small shop owners feel that the information spreads quickly, and there is a possibility of overnight popularity.
Winter is coming, Beibei Village, Mohe City, Heilongjiang Province ushered in the tourist season, and Qiu Xiaoxu, a post-90s generation who opened a homestay in the local area, also ushered in a busy moment. Open B&B offline, sell cultural and creative products online, cooperate with each other offline and online, and the business is getting better and better. "Although our B&B is not on the main road, through the promotion of our own platform, many people see our original cultural and creative products, and when they travel to Mohe, they will want to visit the store and stay, and they will also buy some cultural and creative products to take back. ”
But Qiu Xiaoxu understands that the popularity on the Internet comes and goes quickly, and it is very important to really make a store continue to be "popular" and maintain its own characteristics. He used to be a landscape architect to make exquisite cultural and creative products from local birch branches, bark and pine towers, and brought them to all parts of the country through tourists and the Internet. Qiu Xiaoxu feels that as a small store with a certain influence, it needs to assume a social responsibility. This young man from Fujian Province was attracted by the scenery here after coming to Arctic Village 6 years ago. "I hope that while selling the products of the small shop to various places, I can also spread the local natural scenery and traditional culture, so that more people can see the beauty of the Great Khing'an Mountains. ”
At the request of the interviewee, Tian Tian and Xiong Mengjie are pseudonyms).
China Youth Daily Xi reporter Wang Zhiwei Wu Xinyu Reporter Sun Shan **China Youth Daily.
*: China Youth Daily client.