US Staples company launches two new full channel stores to accommodate the advent of the internet age

The United States Staples Company (Staples) launched two new full channel stores (omnichannel stores) to accommodate the advent of the internet age. Soon after the launch of the new full channel store, Staples planned to transform the existing 45 traditional retail stores into the full channel stores as soon as possible. They take this strategic transformation as a new business growth point.

Recently, the United States Staples Company launched two new full channel stores (omnichannel stores) to adapt to the advent of the network era. The two shops are located in Norwood, MA, and Dover, DE. These are two special stores: The average Staples store is 18000 to 24000 sq ft, typically with 7000 to 8,000 SKU items, and the new store is nearly half the size of the store, only about 12000 square feet, picking out the most popular items for sale, such as office chairs, As for the online hot-selling desks and so on the big guys are removed.

In Staples traditional shops, there is usually only one electronic retail screen kiosk that can be used online. And the whole channel new store will put several electronic retail screen, they scattered in every corner, convenient for consumers to use at any time.

Some of the electronic retail screen allows customers to browse the company's web site for online shopping, while other electronic retail screens can display the back-end of the specific warehousing information, such as the current inventory of how many, where to find Metsian and so on, but also can facilitate the staff to process orders. New store also has a specially designed storage room, to facilitate the consumer line up and down single, offline to take goods.

Soon after the launch of the new full channel store, Staples planned to transform the existing 45 traditional retail stores into the full channel stores as soon as possible. They take this strategic transformation as a new business growth point.

In fact, not only staples, US Messi and many other companies, even China's Yintai department stores are trying to complete the channel shop. The term "full channel retailing" (Omnichannel retailing) began to appear in the United States media in 2011. Now Omnichannel stores has been getting more and more attention, and has moved from the preliminary theoretical cognition to the concrete practical operation stage. But obviously, the present pattern is still immature, still be stones, step by step accumulate, step by step perfect. At the same time, our understanding of future retailing is beginning to get clearer.

First, the future retail is the whole channel retail era

The future consumer will be in the catalog, mail marketing, physical retail stores, supermarkets, stores and the corresponding network platform between the free conversion. Smart TVs, smartphones and tablets will be the most important three screens and traffic portals. The full channel purchase of the customer determines the whole channel retailing of the enterprise.

But the whole channel is definitely not many! Thierry Burdin, director of Cegid products at the French management software company, believes that full channel retailing is from single channel (Mono-channel) to multi-channel (multi-channel) to Trans-channel (Cross-channel), Finally to the whole channel evolution results. According to Burdin's point of view, the entity shop for a single channel, the entity shop and shop coexist is multi-channel, physical store plus shop and mobile store is a cross channel, and the whole channel means that the importance of the shop more than the physical store across the channel state.

Map: Retail channel Transformation Roadmap

Second, the future retail is online under the symbiotic co-prosperity

Physical stores and shop each have differences, each have advantages and disadvantages. Physical stores in a limited space can only show limited products, so can only sell popular hot products; Due to geographical constraints, they can only limit their business to the community, but not to remote areas have no influence. But the advantage of the entity store is that you can meet the customer directly and deliver the money single-handedly. Shop Although there is no geographical restrictions, as long as the network to reach the place there is business, seven days a week, 24 hours a day uninterrupted business, exhibition Space Unlimited, and can play a long tail advantage. But the fatal flaw of the shop is that after all, buyers and sellers can not meet, customers can not see the product, lack of controllable sense.

The interaction between the two always has a positive and negative impact, the crux of the problem is how to curb negative effects (such as the right and left hand), so that the positive role of the dominant, while giving full play to the physical market and the advantages of the virtual market, mutual complementarity, mutual promotion, expand market outreach, increase

The trick is who can put the line under the best combination, who can achieve the best online online interaction, who will be in the future of the retailer in the invincible position. For example, from the Stebown shop, the future of the physical store is not the bigger the better, the traditional dinosaur-like physical stores due to the changes in the business environment evolved into a large but flexible full channel new store. Not only is the business area shrinking, but the product display is no longer more and more, but more and more art. The entity shop has become the experience shop, the goal is to improve the shopping experience to the extreme, while more long tail products are placed online, orders are from the Invisible Warehouse Operations Center unified delivery.

Visible, the future retail pay attention to the combination of actual situation. The establishment of a virtual shop within the entity store, not only can make up for the former space is limited, but also can play the latter's long tail advantages, so as to facilitate the establishment of the future-oriented new O2O supermarket.

Third, the future retail is Solomo new marketing

The concept of "Byers" was first proposed by John John, partner of famous VCs, Kleiner Venture Capital Corporation of America (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Doerr). He integrates the hottest three keywords: Social (social), local (localized), and mobile.

The reason for this integration is that we have entered a consumer era, today, my consumption I decide. The most important sign of consumer awakening is the rise of Solomo (social, local and mobile) consumer groups. The author of the new retail rules, Robin Lewis and Michael Dart, argues that consumers have gained unprecedented power with internet technology, and they can now decide when, where, and how to spend. The former retailer's hegemony was routed by consumers connected by the (mobile) Internet. E-commerce is rapidly connecting with "M-commerce" (mobile shopping), "T-commerce" (via tablets and TV shopping) to open new shopping habits. People can use Facebook to share experiences, to influence other consumers, and to compare prices with mobile phones. The new power of the consumer has already determined the future success of the retail industry.

Early everyone regarded Solomo as a business model, but as a means of entrepreneurship, such as ifttt.com, Foursquare and so on. But I think that in the face of such a huge business ecological change-the rise of new media, the rise of social consumer groups and the gradual popularization of mobile commerce-should look at Solomo from a higher level. For all enterprises, it should be a future retail-oriented modern marketing methods, whether the use of the above mentioned business model, or according to the actual situation of their own company built marketing activities.