The lighting store is an important platform for the trading of lighting products, in a sense it serves as a link between enterprises and consumers, and is also a compass for the rise and fall of the industry. Facing the enticing cake of lighting, in recent years, many investors have invested in the construction of lighting stores. However, with the transformation of the market economic structure, traditional lighting stores are at the forefront of the market and are the first to sense the changes in the market. In the face of large-scale stores, many lighting stores have been eliminated from the competition.
When visiting the lighting store in East China market, most dealers reported that many customers suddenly disappeared this year. What happened behind this sudden change? According to industry analysts, in addition to the downturn in the property market and the impact of Internet e-commerce plundering some customers, cross-border integration service providers have also stepped in.
1, bloom all over the place
Take Guzhen, the largest distribution center of lighting market in China, as an example. Since entering the 21st century, there have been about 40 or 50 lighting stores and lighting accessories cities in Guzhen, let alone by the Guzhen business district. The radiant lamps stores in the offshore Jiangmen, Xiaolan, Zhongshan and other places. Domestic lighting stores are also known for their "large" numbers.
The expansion of the supermarkets in turn led to the blind "follow the trend" of the merchants. For their own benefit, they followed the supermarkets without breaking new stores, hoping to take the lead. On the one hand, it is desperately expanding, and on the other hand, it is the decline in sales. It is also difficult for dealers to make a living in the store. At the same time, it is not easy for the lighting market to want to stand out in the rapid expansion.
Xie Haichang, director of market operation of Qingdao Hongsheng International Lighting City, told the author: The main reason for this situation is that the government does not have a unified plan, and the second is that the lighting stores are fighting each other. This is currently the case in Qingdao. In fact, the development of the city urgently needs a large-scale A representative lighting store, but the development of the lighting store and the city are not synchronized, which is not good for the lighting store and the city itself. Therefore, it is of course difficult for the store to make an effort in this situation.
2. The hardware is controlled, wait for death or break through?
At present, about 65% of the lamps and lanterns stores in large and medium-sized cities nationwide are converted from old factories and old buildings many years ago. They have outdated appearances and shapes and poor infrastructure. For example, there are insufficient parking spaces, and there is a lot of water around the store when it rains. The unreasonable interior decoration layout also brings a lot of time and energy to consumers.
At the same time, in the face of those modern and fashionable rookies, they appear overshadowed, completely lost their competitive advantage, and are in a disadvantaged position of passive beatings. Over time, the loss of merchants. However, if the store wants to improve its competitiveness, investing a lot of financial and material costs on hardware transformation and decoration will, to a large extent, cause a substantial increase in the store's operating costs. Immediately after that, the store will balance the win margin with a rent increase of about 10-30%.
For this kind of old lighting store, is it actively seeking breakthroughs, renovation or insisting on self-style, General Manager Xiao Xiaohong of Changzhou Guanghui Lighting City told the author: This situation should be changed according to the actual situation, I suggest to keep it unchanged. And moving the whole body, maybe blind changes will increase the speed of death.
3. Strong enemies are around, it is difficult to attract business
For the lighting store, investment promotion can be described as its lifeline. On the one hand, the newly opened lighting stores provide various preferential policies and strive to increase the occupancy rate of merchants; on the other hand, the old stores with deep accumulation of resources also try their best to retain the merchants who have settled in.
As more and more investors enter the field of lighting store operations, competition between lighting stores is becoming increasingly fierce, especially in developed cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. On the one hand, new entrants continue to share market cakes, resulting in diversion of merchants and consumers; on the other hand, many lighting vendors have adopted austerity and wait-and-see tactics due to flat business. The result of this is that in the face of the pressure of expensive renting and the opportunities of e-commerce, the demand for physical stores and even stores has declined, and rent-off and relocation have frequently occurred, and the rental rate of stores has therefore declined. There is even a phenomenon that the entire store floor on the high floor of the store is vacant.
Xie Haichang suggested that the stores should "persist": especially new-type stores. At present, the entire climate of the lighting industry and real estate policies affect the fluctuations of the entire industry. This is the current status of the lighting industry across the country. So we must persist, we must persist. Since we are in this industry, we must persist. Persistence is victory, and the past winter is spring.
4, service, how to serve
Time is moving, consumer concepts and market trends are constantly changing, and the only constant is what can the lighting store bring to consumers? After all, what kind of services can the store provide to meet the diverse and personalized needs of modern consumers.
"There is no management problem in the lighting store. In the final analysis, it is the service problem. The key to the operation of the lighting store is service." Xie Haichang said.
Similarly, Xiao Xiaohong told the author: The term management is unscientific. Now many stores do n’t know how to serve. In fact, the service is to clear the needs of the merchants. If you can catch the demand, you can make a good store. Stores not only serve merchants, but also serve the customers of the merchants, that is, consumers.
Some operators of lighting stores hold a "little wealth and peace" mentality, and are unwilling to invest in advertising and brand building, and have a weak sense of competition. In the early days of operation of many lighting stores, the management was very simple. Generally, the shops were rented out, and after-sales service was impossible to talk about. With the intensification of competition in recent years, the brand awareness of store operators has gradually become clear, but compared with a standardized and systematic store management method such as department stores and home appliances, the lighting store is still continuously exploring its management model. The perfect stage.
5, the cost of rent has risen
At present, many lighting stores operate on a lease basis and do not have their own property rights. After years of meticulous cultivation, the popularity of the market has gradually increased, and most markets have achieved considerable operating profits, but the continued rise in house prices has also made it difficult to increase rents when renewing contracts. The increase is at least about 10% and at most it is about 30%. The high rents have brought tremendous pressure to store operations and have further affected the relationship between merchants and stores.
Of course, with the rise of large-scale mixed-use stores, the situation of "only rent but not sale" has gradually been broken. However, this situation is also limited to big brands, small brands and small manufacturers. In the case of ever-decreasing circumstances, maintaining operating profit is not only a problem that merchants need to consider, but also a problem that stores need to consider for merchants.
6. E-commerce, the secret that the store cannot tell
With the change of the market economic structure, both the old and new stores are trying to change, and new and change in business ideas and channels, so e-commerce has become the only choice for the lighting market, merchants and enterprises. "E-commerce is the general trend of the future development of the industry" This is an accepted and acknowledged statement in the lighting industry. But how to do e-commerce, what kind of business model to choose, and what platform to choose have always been the secrets of the lighting store market.
"Because lamps are not the same as other industries, if you rely solely on e-commerce for promotion, it will not be displayed. Because lamps are fragile, the effects of online and physical stores are not the same. For some high gold content, more complex components, tricks With more lights, online shopping is still inconvenient, and there is still a distance between online and offline. "Xie Haichang told the author.
7. The store is to guide, interfere, or let go
In some old lighting stores, the usual role of the store is to “rent the renter”. As to whether the merchant can sell the lamp and how to buy the lamp, there is no interference, but the intensified competition in the store, the improvement of the service in the store, and whether the store is I can still sit idly by and take part in it and take part in it. Mutual benefit and win-win situation. The author believes that there is no confusion, but how to participate and how to achieve a win-win situation are really a big problem for the store.
Xie Haichang said: The reason why many stores are closed now is because they do not combine the advantages of manufacturers, dealers, consumers, and stores. The advantages of manufacturers, dealers, consumers, and stores are organically combined. This is the key article to make a new type of store. In fact, the lighting market is fair now, everyone is almost the same, but those who can combine the above advantages can be successful.
Any party will have "temptation" on its development path, and of course there is no doubt about it. As Xie Haichang, director of market operation of Qingdao Hongsheng International Lighting City, said, "The past winter was spring." It is not difficult to break through, as long as you change your stand From the point of view of the merchant, do it from the perspective of the consumer, go deep into the market, urgency the merchant's urgency, solve the customer's needs, and "perplexity" is naturally solved.
