Home appliance industry to develop online and offline collaborative

In recent years, with the increasing popularity of online shopping, many consumers use physical retail stores as a place to look at goods, proofing, and experience. They look for the models and specifications of the products and go online to purchase them. Physical retail stores are therefore faced with a "showroom phenomenon." In response to this phenomenon, a shop in Australia has come up with a trick that customers who can’t just buy from the stores always charge “Ask Only” for AUD$5 per person. The store’s notice stated that starting from February 1, 2013, the store will charge each customer “only for shopping without paying”. If you buy a commodity, the cost of this $5 will be deducted from it.

The phenomenon of “exhibition hall” faced by physical retail stores has indeed become more and more serious, not only in department stores, but also in home appliance stores, and the commercial retail industry is plagued by this phenomenon. In response, Suning proposed the idea of ​​"virtualizing" a physical store and making the store "real," that is, increasing the stickiness of physical stores to customers, increasing the variety of related products, increasing customer experience interest, and improving services. The level of a series of soft measures, so that customers come to the physical store to increase the desire to purchase; through the introduction of financial services, bill payments, utilities and other public utilities to pay for virtual products, expand the store's storefront features; through the experience of the operating characteristics, Let visiting shops become a kind of enjoyment and a pastime rather than a simple purchase. The ultimate goal is to let consumers like to visit physical shopping malls to learn more about products and services.

In addition, physical stores should also integrate the upstream and downstream resources of the retail industry, such as banking, building materials, home and other related industries, to develop marketing ideas, innovate marketing initiatives, and provide customers with more humane value-added services. It is hard for business to do, and physical stores can increase one aspect of customer stickiness.

For a long time, the focus of the household appliance industry has been focused on the price comparison between the online and offline models. I think that this status must be changed. E-commerce and physical store models should be either "convenient" or "selected." Experience the difference, not tangled in the price. Changing the traditional competitive thinking of "online online vs. offline vs. offline" requires breaking the online and offline price bottlenecks and solving the customer's confusion as to whether the "buyer's electricity has been selected by the electricity supplier or the physical store." In fact, after a period of running-in, whether it is a physical store or an online shop, the price war will not continue, and online and offline commodity prices will gradually tend to be consistent. In this way, customers who are pursuing convenience can go to Suning's e-shopping store, and those who like to go shopping can go to Suning's physical store. Customers will choose the online or offline purchase channels according to their own needs instead of determining according to the price. Suning put forward the concept of cloud business, online and offline collaborative development, physical stores, virtual shops at the same time the development direction of the two cards will effectively solve the dilemma of consumers.

For the Australian company, the practice of charging for "only shopping and not paying for purchases" has been preceded by the first physical store, but it is difficult to receive the expected results. It is very likely that it will not only receive "no payment only" but will also be charged. And drive away potential consumers.