If you were to select the best commercial projects in the past year or so, which one would you choose? What was the reason for choosing?
For more than a year, the China Department Store Business Association has visited a number of commercial projects, and conducted in-depth exchanges with a number of project operators, industry experts, and consumer representatives.
Positioning to establish competitive advantage is the beginning of business.
At present, retailers are busy labeling consumers through various means in order to carry out so-called precision marketing, and it is equally important for retailers to put a clear label on themselves, which is positioning.
On the one hand, the importance of positioning is on the market side, with the gradual homogenization of products and services, the market dividend fades, and enterprises compete in the stock market, which is the case for each market segment, and it is necessary to have a clearer positioning to obtain a niche market.
On the other hand, on the consumer side, consumers' needs are becoming more personalized and differentiated, and at the same time, in the face of a large amount of information, they are often at a loss and have difficulty in making choices. A clear positioning of the enterprise is required. Through precise positioning, companies can obtain a unique identity tag that can enter and influence the minds of consumers and facilitate their purchase decisions.
Retail operations are oriented to end consumers, and consumer positioning can include young people, fashion consumption, family consumption, high-end consumption, etc. More and more commercial projects abandon large and comprehensive positioning, for first-tier cities, a precise positioning, a small proportion of consumers, will achieve great success. On the contrary, in order to rush to open or pursue the effect of full shops, some commercial projects introduce merchants that do not match the positioning, cannot form a clear label, and lose the long-term image for the sake of temporary interests. For example, if a project focuses on high-end, it must always maintain a high-end image in all aspects, always maintain the consistency of positioning, merchants, services, and consumer expectations, and form differentiated competition around the positioning of all business elements. At the same time, perseverance, step by step, there will be a harvest in the end.
There are also some renovation projects that face the process of repositioning, and sometimes they will carry the burden of history, in fact, sometimes they are not broken, or even broken.
The project positioning has been established, and it must be integrated into all aspects of the internal operation of the enterprise, especially in communication, and the positioning will be implanted in the minds of customers.
Experience is an extension of positioning, giving consumers a reason to come.
Experience is an extension of positioning, giving consumers a reason to come.
All commercial projects today are very experience-oriented. However, in terms of specific forms, they often focus on external experiences, such as increasing experience projects such as catering, entertainment, children, and ice rinks, updating the display layout of shopping malls, etc., to create a cooler night scene, etc., but not paying enough attention to the internal and service-oriented experience, or lacking capabilities, such as membership services, content marketing, circle services, curatorial planning, IP marketing, etc., which are more important to consumers. IP marketing, in particular, is a better experience by creating a vivid and distinctive project image and impressive, iconic marketing campaigns.
To some extent, good positioning coupled with excellent experience may even become a kind of emotional trust for consumers. In the subconscious, consumers regard the project as "my store", become a real loyal customer, and consciously help the company to carry out image communication, brand co-construction, and fission marketing.
It is also necessary to balance the relationship between the experience format and the retail format, retain a certain proportion of the retail format according to the project positioning, and appropriately explore the self-operated model, such as cosmetics, to improve the gross profit level. This is an important means to improve business indicators, especially in the current situation of too much experience, and it is necessary to pay more attention to the retail format.
In 2023, the China Association of Department Store Commerce visited these companies in depth, and they are some representatives of "precise positioning + excellent experience", including but not limited to: SKP, Deji, Beijing Huiju, Beijing Bloomage Live, Shanghai TX Huaihai, Shanghai Bailian ZX Creative Fun Field, Chongqing Department Store Century Xindu Store, Shenzhen Rainbow Bantian Store, Hangzhou Wulin Yintai, Zhengzhou Dennis David City, Zhengzhou Zhenghong City, Jinan Ginza ** Luoyuan Street Store, Xilinhot Minsheng Shopping Center, Qingyang Oriental Regent Department Store... ...
They each have their own advantages, and the common denominator is "precise positioning + excellent experience", which is the case in the first and second lines, and the same is true in the sinking market.
At the "21st China Department Store Retail Industry Annual Conference and Business Innovation Summit" held in Shanghai from March 26th to 28th, a number of projects will be shared and interpreted on site, welcome to pay attention and participate.