High-end home stores sink

The COFCO Plaza’s way out is worth paying attention to in the face of the competition of newly-acquired imported homes such as the House of Reality. The COFCO Plaza, Beijing's first gathering place for home furnishing brands, was once the benchmark for imported home furnishing brands. Therefore, the home furnishing industry once said “buy the ocean to COFCO”. However, as more and more imported home furnishing brands enter the country, the industry status of COFCO Plaza is on the decline, and the rejuvenation and diversion of big stores, “vacant” shops, and even homes for professional stores have allowed COFCO Plaza to The situation is paralyzed.

Desolated COFCO Plaza

In Beijing, when it comes to buying high-end imported furniture, people first think of COFCO Plaza on Chang’an Avenue. Since the mid-1990s, COFCO Plaza has become synonymous with "imported home delivery centers." However, this situation is changing. Representing the home of the house, the gathering place of imported home brands is shifting, and COFCO Plaza has to face market diversion. At the same time, its own operating conditions are not optimistic.

On July 19th, the reporter visited the COFCO Plaza, which is located on the side of Chang’an Street and within the Second Ring Road. Although it is the weekend, there are not many consumers inside the shopping mall. In addition to a layer of catering, beauty, and clothing, attracting more people in the format, the flow of people on the remaining floors can be counted.

The reporter detailed the shopping guide map of his mall and found that a total of less than 40 brands had opened stores. From the third floor to the third floor of the shopping mall, almost all floors have vacant shops. Some of them marked the words being renovated, while others closed the facade and looked through the door, leaving it empty. Judging from the brand layout, apart from home brands, there are many stores such as catering, beauty, clothing, and supermarkets, which are distributed sporadically from the third floor to the first floor. The home brands that are laid out here are not only NATUZZI, Hestia, but also Law House, Fung Yide home, Europa, etc., almost hard to win the big figure.

According to relevant data, the COFCO Plaza developer is Beijing Zhongliang Plaza Development Co., Ltd., built in 1996 and divided into office buildings (office decoration renderings) and shopping centers. The shopping centers are distributed on the third to fifth floors underground. The reporters At the scene, it was found that the fourth floor and the fifth floor have been closed. The actual open area is underground three to three floors.

The decline of the "nobility"

According to Wang Yuxi, executive director of Ruiyi Germany, COFCO Plaza has positioned itself as a shopping center since the opening of the market, adopting a fully leased business model. However, due to poor management, from 1996 to 2000, merchants in the COFCO Plaza were frequently replaced, and experienced problems such as poor traffic and decline in rent. At the beginning of the business, the furniture home brand was not positioned as the main business, and only one "Pandanti furniture garden (garden renderings)" was stationed. However, with the poor business practices of other industries, imported home brands have settled here. In 2001, COFCO Plaza re-adjusted the orientation of its shopping malls, with high-end fashion furniture and home accessories as the theme, and determined the main direction.

The adjusted positioning allowed COFCO Plaza to be very successful once, and it has gained a high reputation in the high-end home sector in Beijing. Before 2006, the collection of freehand space, Fort Lauderdale, Leonardo da Vinci, Europa, NATUZZI, Fanini cabinets, Hansgrohe and other furniture, cabinets, bathroom, lighting and household goods brands came to settle. According to statistics, in 2006, COFCO Plaza Shopping Center had more than 20 international top-level furniture brands. COFCO top furniture brands used to account for 50% of the total furniture brands and became the highest-quality home furniture brand in the country. .

However, the market situation is not always smooth. In 2006, actually the home of the North Fourth Ring Building was formally opened, and its international furniture museum attracted big names such as Roche Fort, Freehand Space, and Extraordinary House. Competition and diversion started from the beginning. Although brands such as Rocheco and Freehand Space opened their first flagship stores in COFCO Plaza and did not eagerly withdraw when they opened stores elsewhere, the status of COFCO Plaza began to be threatened.

An industry source told reporters that the COFCO Plaza as a gathering place for furniture brands, the mismatch of its hardware facilities began to show. Although it is located in an excellent location, it is not convenient to drive by car, especially from east to west, and it is necessary to get around; the tense parking space has become an important factor in limiting passenger flow; after ten years, its interior decoration style is slightly different. Obsolete; the most important thing is that the shorter height and not too large area of ​​each floor can no longer meet the space requirements of furniture brands.

Internal and external causes of "decline"

The Da Vinci incident around 2009 made ordinary consumers' understanding of "foreign brands" rational. President Li Wanli of Law House concluded: “Before this, people’s perception of imported home brands has remained focused on appearance and luxury style. Objectively, there is not much known about foreign home brands. These 'foreign brands’ 'Before 2005, there was almost no brand awareness, and the information on the origin was almost the only identity mark. The Da Vinci incident had a great impact on the imported furniture brand business and had an impact on the property side."

In the morning, the general manager of Blue Morning Home Liu Wanyou’s point of view is even more straightforward: “Now information technology is so developed and it is so convenient to go abroad. It is known as an international brand-name company. Many people go abroad to see if they know what happened. Imports are not All are good things. Consumers have begun to be picky about foreign home brands, and brand awareness has begun to build."

In April 2010, the home of the house was officially unveiled. At the time of opening, President Wang Linpeng said: "The House of Fame has two standards for creating an international household hall. It must be a truly international brand and must be produced abroad." From the introduction of the brand to emphasize the international real first-line brand. In addition, Actually, Home House has strict requirements in terms of product origin, product quality, brand reputation, and after-sales service, relying on various service policies such as “preemptive payment” to attract consumers' attention. For merchants, the clear and high-end positioning of the North Fourth Ring Store, the multiple gathering effects of the big names, and the super-high popularity brought about by the huge business area and marketing strategies of the actual home has attracted many brands.

In contrast, COFCO Plaza, which relied on the reputation of “the first gathering place for imported home brands” for more than a decade, appeared to be somewhat dull in its business strategy. According to internal merchants, most of the consumers who currently come to COFCO Plaza are “ "Competent guests" and "have passed." Insiders commented on the current state of development of COFCO Plaza by “eating the old man” and said: “If it does not change, the future of COFCO Plaza will only be worse.”

Eat old or new changes?

How to change the COFCO Plaza? Is its current imported furniture brand positioning still appropriate? Wang Yuxi said: "The core of sustainable development of any business model is the strong ability of commercial tenants to lease, and owners benefit from a healthy growth. From the current situation, the positioning of furniture products is not suitable for COFCO Plaza. First, there is no large residential community around it, and traffic parking is not convenient. The area is small, the merchants have limited space for expansion, and these hardware conditions are not suitable for furniture products, and there are no similar commercial forms around this location, and they cannot form independent store groups like the North Fourth Ring Road and East Third Ring Road. Taking advantage of the situation, these are all flaws. Although the reputation of being a home-collection place for imported home products is already out of the house, if the rent cannot be collected and the income is not high, this position will not last long."

In terms of brand positioning, the business strategy must also be adjusted. Liu Wanyou, who was born in the department store industry, said that the high-level positioning of COFCO Plaza could not be convinced by the disorderly and uneven positioning of the industry. “For example, there are multiple formats of clothing, restaurants, and supermarkets, but also diverted the area and attractiveness of furniture brands, and the positioning of these brands is not uniform, there is a high or low, not to mention home brands, but also a mixed state, as the frontline Home brands certainly do not want to settle in. These problems are not resolved, I think the brand will not be recognized."

The competition in the external environment has also made COFCO's current business strategy quite embarrassing. Li Wanli said: “The diversion of home renminbi, Red Star Macalline, and brand independent stores to the former “first gathering place” is unavoidable, just as the former Scitech shopping mall was once the first of high-end department stores. As well as department stores such as Lufthansa and Shin Kong Place, which have better locations and more accurate positioning, the concentration of home brands is also a major trend.If they do not exert force on external marketing, consumers may have their 'first' reputation. Forgetting."

According to industry sources, the rise and decline of COFCO Plaza have multiple factors. The inappropriate hardware, the vagueness of business positioning and the diversion of competitors all contribute to the change in the current business strategy of COFCO. Otherwise, it will be from the “nobility”. The identity did not fall to "ordinary passerby".

â–  Market Analysis

International brands accelerate the layout of the domestic market

In the past two years, foreign brands have had a "mass invasion" of the Chinese market. From early furniture, lighting and other large furniture products to mattresses, accessories, fabrics and even gifts, first-tier brands from all over the world want to take a slice of the Chinese market. How foreign brands are laying out the Chinese market?

First, look for agents and enter professional home stores. The large area, multi-brand gathering effect, perfect property guarantees and mature home brand operation experience have allowed the stores such as Home Furnishings to win in the "Fight for Famous Brands". In addition, Beijing supermarkets are paying more and more attention to the introduction of high-end brands, not only setting up a dedicated large-scale venue and clear positioning, but also “additional protection” in terms of management, publicity, etc., so as to achieve the purpose of improving the overall positioning of the stores and the complete store formats.

Second, open an independent store. Compared to entering the professional store, the independent storefront emphasizes the characteristics and positioning of the home-brand, more independence, and independent storefronts. Its product features and brand concepts are also reflected more vividly. But this requires that the agents have strong financial support, can get the store in a good location, and need the brand to have a certain reputation in the country. Moreover, if brand independent storefronts form a clustering effect, it will also bring higher popularity to individual brands.

Third, department stores. Compared with the first two channels, this channel is not mainstream, and it is suitable for standardized and small-sized home brands such as accessories and bedding products. In some high-end hotels, there are also furniture brand stores, mainly display. In the department stores and hotels, on the one hand, shopping malls and hotels have this demand. On the other hand, some household products also need high-end shopping malls to promote the image of the platform, with the mall of fashion, jewelry, cosmetics and other echo effects. However, this is not a mainstream channel and it is not suitable for large-scale promotion of furniture brands.

â– Industry sound

"If you don't succeed, you can't make it hard"

● Liu Wanyou, general manager of Blue Morning Home

According to my observations, the hardware facilities of COFCO Plaza are very good, such as facades, interior decoration and so on. If there is any change, I think it should be positioned as a boutique home display shop. First of all, the stationing brand must be absolutely on the front line and the positioning should be high-end precision. The brand that does not meet the positioning needs to withdraw in time. The shopping mall is dominated by quality exhibits, and the partition between each store is best to open up, giving consumers enough experience to cover up the shortcomings of its own small area. Consumers are smart when they spend money. What they are asking for is that they must meet their expectations. For high-end consumer groups, the value of their products is not their consideration, but their brand positioning, product design, service, and shopping experience. These high-end consumers feel "value".

Experience consumption will be a trend

● Guo Zengli, Director, China Shopping Center Industry Information Center

I think that the future consumption of home products must be a sense of heavy experience and a heavy consumption atmosphere. This is especially true for high-end, first-line international brands. It is large in area, convenient in transportation, and has no clear distinction between brands. In the city, for the property management side, the recruited brands not only need to be consistent in their positioning, but also need to be integrated in the layout of the mall, while maintaining the individual characteristics of each brand. I don't think this type of mall has yet emerged, but it is likely to be the direction of future development.

â–  Purchase reminder

Buy imported home attention 4 points

View documents to ensure the authenticity of "identity"

Imported furniture should have entry orders, including customs declarations, ocean bills of lading, packing lists, invoices for containers, and the four singles can be combined to verify the authenticity of the purchased furniture. If the customer's order number does not match the customs declaration, then the "foreign identity" of the furniture may be false. In addition, furniture building materials products should be accompanied by product quality assurance or manuals, environmental protection grade certificates and other materials. These materials are proof of product quality and environmental performance, and should generally be available.

Import of raw materials does not belong to 100% imported furniture

One type of product is raw materials imported and processed in the country. For example, sofa fabrics from Europe, but the work done in China; wallpaper raw materials from abroad, assembled in the country. Strictly speaking, this is not a 100% purely imported household product. If the business uses the word “import”, consumers should identify whether they are finished products or raw materials and carefully screen them.

European and American furniture does not equal imported furniture

Nowadays, in every home store, there is usually a furniture area for Europe and America. This time, “European and American furniture” refers to “European-American furniture”. It does not mean its origin, and it is likely that domestic manufacturers imitate the design of foreign brand furniture. Brand.