Which has more development prospects between physical clothing stores and online stores in 2016?

At least among some white-collar workers, they do prefer online shopping due to the price difference between physical stores and online stores. In fact, many consumers now not only use clothing stores as "fitting rooms", but also tend to purchase "food, clothing, housing and transportation" in their daily lives online. Even decoration materials such as floors, floor tiles and lamps, and even bulk items In the steel business, you will first choose or try out the products in a physical store, and then make large-scale purchases online.

In the opinion of industry insiders, as long as conditions permit, everything consumers see, touch and hear can be purchased directly online instead of going through physical stores.

So, judging from the current situation, how popular is online shopping? How many consumers regard physical stores as "fitting rooms"? In addition, for physical stores, in this online shopping wave How to deal with it?

Current situation: "Cloth fitting people" occupy the first and second tiers

The people who appear in this phenomenon are mainly concentrated in first and second tier cities, or in the more economically developed Jiangsu Province Zhejiang coastal area. The rapid development of the logistics industry is also one of the reasons for the rapid development of online shopping in these cities

With the maturity and rise of online shopping platforms, more and more young people, especially those born in the 80s and 90s, are joining. Into the online shopping army. During random inquiries from reporters, there was an interesting phenomenon: many of them tried on clothes in shopping malls and then switched to shopping online.

However, during the interview, the reporter also heard the view that compared to online shopping, physical purchase or better quality assurance is more reassuring. So, how common are fitting rooms currently? Which type of consumer group has the majority?

Niu Haipeng: With the rise of e-commerce, it is becoming more and more common for shopping malls to be turned into fitting rooms. Of course, for now, this situation still occurs more often in large and medium-sized cities or economically developed areas, and there is no atmosphere for universal participation. In addition, as far as consumer groups are concerned, the phenomenon of "fitting rooms" may still appear more among young consumer groups, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s who grew up with the Internet. As far as I know, older consumer groups still prefer to shop in physical stores.

Zhang Dazhi: As we all know, it is becoming more and more common for shopping malls to become "fitting rooms". The scale of online shopping continues to grow, and this situation has reached about 30%.

At the same time, the main group of people who shop online are basically young people - some white-collar workers (people who have tight consumption funds, but are still willing to follow the trend). However, middle-aged and elderly people rarely go online to compare prices due to lack of financial resources and lack of knowledge about the Internet, so they rarely shop online.

In addition, people who experience this phenomenon are mainly concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, or in the economically developed coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The rapid development of the logistics industry is also one of the reasons why online shopping in these cities has developed rapidly and the "fitting room" situation has become common.

Chen Shouxuan: This situation can be said to be very common now. I personally think that "fitting rooms" are a new form of consumption that has developed to a certain extent when online shopping has developed to a certain extent. Today's online shopping groups are mostly young people, mostly in first- and second-tier cities. Because other fifth- and sixth-tier cities do not have sound and complete offline transaction conditions.

The reason

Determined by the characteristics of the clothing industry

Clothing, a consumer product, has certain particularities. After consumers have experienced it in a store, they can buy it online Buy your favorite product based on the item number. Among them, the biggest reason for the boom of online shopping is price.

In the eyes of many older consumers, the behavior of “fitting enthusiasts” is incomprehensible. Because they tend to trust the prices in physical stores more. However, the young people believe that the "old people" do not understand the mystery. Taking a certain brand of shoes as an example, the reporter found that in physical stores, the price was as high as more than 1,000 yuan. But online, the price quoted is only 200 yuan to 600 yuan, and the merchants in the online store make it clear that it is genuine. In addition, during this year's Singles' Day online marketing period, many products that usually cost more than a thousand yuan were quoted online for only a few hundred yuan. So, in addition to price factors, what other factors have caused shopping malls to become "fitting rooms"?

Chen Shousong: The emergence and popularization of the "fitting room" phenomenon is also a result of the development and improvement of e-commerce. A new trend. This also shows that consumers are beginning to trust the consumption model of online platforms.

Moreover, consumer goods such as clothing have certain particularities. After consumers have experienced them in stores, they can buy their favorite products online based on the item number. Among them, the biggest reason for the boom of online shopping is price. Buyers want to buy cheap and high-quality consumer goods, and online platforms conveniently provide them with a price comparison platform.

However, it is worth mentioning that many products cannot be sold purely online. Such as machinery, cars, houses, etc. The sales of these products are not supported by physical stores, and it is obviously impossible to complete the entire marketing process solely through online stores. Therefore, the emergence of the "fitting room" phenomenon is not simply the responsibility of any one aspect, but rather the characteristics of the commodity itself that gives this consumption method the power to flourish.

Niu Haipeng: On the one hand, this is related to the rapid rise of China’s e-commerce. The marketing layout of many well-known e-commerce companies covers almost all cities and regions in China. Looking at the long-term trend, the further development of e-commerce is not surprising. At the same time, due to low cost considerations, more and more merchants have seen development opportunities from these e-commerce platforms in recent years, joined this platform, and accumulated a large number of consumers. Furthermore, it cannot be denied that products that consumers cannot buy in stores can often be purchased online, which further increases their popularity.

In fact, the emergence of the "fitting room" situation is not unrelated to the financial crisis a few years ago and the recent economic downturn. Because of the financial crisis, white-collar workers with declining incomes have to choose more economical methods to alleviate "cost" pressure. The more important impact is that inflation and the rapid rise in housing prices also force many people to choose cheap shopping methods to save money.

Zhang Dazhi: On the surface, the reason for this is that social and economic development has led to the advancement and openness of purchasing awareness, and people have gradually accepted diversified methods of shopping and payment. Actively look for prices that you think are affordable on online platforms.

However, the root cause of this problem is that consumers have little trust in the market. Consumers are worried that the prices in physical stores are "inflated" and are unwilling to pay on the spot. Instead, they choose to copy the product number and check it online before making a decision. .

In fact, consumer goods in physical stores include rent and other price increases. The cost is indeed higher than that of online stores, and the sales price is naturally higher. And consumers will inevitably be more willing to choose products with relatively lower prices among similar products, and then the sales of physical stores will be significantly reduced. Of course, the current situation is also related to the trend that the clothing retail industry is beginning to wither.

The way out

O2O model becomes king

The development of physical stores will inevitably be gradually integrated with online platform sales in the future. Physical stores have their own advantages, and online stores also have their own advantages of low cost. If the two are combined, it will also be of great benefit to the expansion of marketing channels for consumer goods

In the "stage" of commercial war, especially with the increasing pressure of online shopping, physical stores seem to be less and less occupied. Advantages. For this reason, consumers can always find that in the stores of some well-known brands, there are often signs such as prohibiting filming and prohibiting taking photos. This is also the most basic measure for physical stores to prevent online sellers from taking secret photos. But judging from the actual situation, it is difficult to resist the impact of the general trend of online shopping. But there are also smart physical stores that will use the Internet to open their own online flagship stores in order to win over netizen "consumers".

But in any case, in the face of fierce competition from the Internet, how should physical stores choose their own path in the future? Should they differentiate their operations or continue to offer discounts and promotions?

Niu Haipeng: Competition cannot be underestimated. In this case, physical stores need to look at whether their business methods have prospects, such as whether to expand their own stores or carefully build their own stores to attract consumers. On the other hand, requirements need to be made with upstream suppliers. For example, differentiated operations between online and offline are required, that is, some varieties must receive lower prices and marketing support from merchants. Third, seize the high-end group and take the needs of the high-end group as your main body. After all, many high-end consumer groups do not care about the price, but emphasize the quality inspection of goods. This is the direction of physical stores.

Zhang Dazhi: This is indeed a trend in today’s economic society. We call it the O2O model, which effectively combines offline and online. The Internet has become the front desk for offline transactions, and offline physical stores have become experience stores for online services.

We all know that the key to the success of an online store lies in product selection, payment credit, logistics support and other important links. However, logistics costs still need some time to improve in China.

In the process of gradually improving online store sales, physical stores can consider actively cooperating with online platforms. If they want to survive in the future, they can rely on physical stores and open an online store at the same time. This can increase the store's turnover, expand the sales channels of physical stores, and also provide an additional promotion channel for price reduction and discounts, forming a complementarity between physical stores and online stores.

Chen Shousong: Obviously this is a new trend. However, the development of physical stores will inevitably be gradually integrated with online platform sales in the future. Physical stores have their own advantages, and online stores also have their own advantages of low cost. If you combine the two and promote each other, it will also be of great benefit to broadening the marketing channels for consumer goods.

In general, online stores can be regarded as another new marketing channel for physical stores. Of course, regular discounts and promotions are also a reasonable means of physical store marketing.

Trends

Physical stores are difficult to replace

Physical stores will not be completely replaced in the short term. Firstly, some loyal physical store customers will not disappear. Secondly, People also need to go to physical stores to see the “real thing”, and this step is difficult to skip.

In fact, in addition to clothing, food, home appliances, decoration, etc. have become important areas for online shopping. For example, in the field of home appliances, e-commerce giants are immersed in "price wars" and enjoy it. Not only that, some experts previously told reporters that in the future, if conditions permit, many commodities can be bought, sold or traded online. So, will physical stores in the future be fully covered by the Internet and eventually disappear from the market?

Niu Haipeng: Physical stores will never disappear. First of all, the "experience" of physical stores is difficult to be replaced by online shopping, which is also one of the biggest weaknesses of online shopping at present. Secondly, physical stores have conveniences that online shopping does not have. Take this year’s “Double Eleven” promotion as an example. Items purchased online are often delayed for many days before arriving, which is not acceptable to all consumers. Thirdly, the development of China’s e-commerce is currently unique because They are all enjoying relatively low costs and the support of private equity tycoons. Just imagine, once China's labor costs rise to the same level as the United States in the future, the current relatively low logistics cost model will be unsustainable. As the cost of e-commerce increases, there may be another conclusion about which one is higher and which one is lower.

Zhang Dazhi: Indeed, with the development of online shopping, the diversification of products in online stores will affect other fields to a certain extent.

However, physical stores will not be completely replaced in the short term. Firstly, some loyal physical store customers will not disappear. Secondly, people also need to go to physical stores to see "real things". This step is difficult to save. .

A closer analysis shows that online shopping is basically the domain of young people, and older people generally do not like online shopping. Some products that are too small and delicate must still be sold mainly in physical stores. For example, department stores such as washbasins are still dominated by physical stores, especially large supermarkets, which will continue to exist for a long time.

For example, we know that online shopping in the United States is very developed and e-commerce is mature enough, but large supermarkets still exist. Taking the United States as an example, the business of large shopping malls in the United States has always been booming. Because consumers still have the need to go shopping. Online shopping is generally for products that are not urgently needed, are cheap, and have convenient logistics. Business people who have high requirements for product quality will still go to high-end shopping malls for shopping. Therefore, the possibility of physical stores being completely replaced by the Internet is very slim.

Chen Shousong: I cannot clearly predict the future impact. But for the future of physical stores, we can think the other way around. If there are no physical stores, what will happen to online shopping? Of course, there will be many problems. For example, many people go to specialty stores to try on clothes and then shop online. In fact, without physical stores, online shopping itself would be difficult to survive.

In general, the proportion of online shopping will continue to expand in the future, and the range of products covered will become wider and wider. In the future, there will inevitably be competition between online shopping and physical stores, but physical stores will not disappear. In fact, the two complement each other in a sense, and online shopping also requires the existence of physical stores. Recommended related reports: "Special Consulting Report on the Opportunities, Challenges and Countermeasures of the Internet for China's Garment Industry" by the Forward-looking Industry Research Institute