Consumption Is In The Doldrums, Online Shopping Is Playing An Impact On Department Stores &Nbsp; &Nbsp; Department Store Industry Is Coming To The End Of Winter.

"Garlic you ruthless" to "Ginger your army" and then "beans you play", the price war on the road has already made residents unbearable and suffering, and the rising consumer confidence is once again in the doldrums. According to a new survey released by the consulting group, a group of more than half of families plan to cut consumption in the coming year as prices continue to rise and urban and rural residents feel more stressed. Under these circumstances, department stores How to mobilize consumers who have already formed the habit of "no discount or no purchase" is worth paying attention to.

In addition, coupled with the rise of new channels such as e-commerce, although as a latecomer, its unparalleled convenience and the low price characteristics of the intermediate links have just coincide with the current consumption psychology of many consumers and the consumption expectation under the current low consumption environment. How to compete with it has become a problem that the department store industry has to think over for a long time.

Pei Liang, Secretary General of the China Chain Store Association, thinks that the department store industry has been very comfortable before. At present, this market prospect is a challenge for the department stores, which are facing a sharp rise in the price of clothing and the impact of online shopping discount war. It is more likely that it will bring about a revolution. In the future, the department stores should make good market expectations and prepare for the winter ahead.

　　消費低迷影響深遠

Nowadays, with the gradual cooling of the weather, and with the advent of traditional festivals such as new year's day and Spring Festival, the major department stores seem to welcome the golden age of "warm consumption" as scheduled. However, the Chinese Commercial Daily reporter found in some shopping malls in Beijing, although some stores are still popular with customers, they only try not to buy them, and complain about the rise in clothing prices.

Industry related people said that, along with the upstream cotton raw materials rising, cotton related chemical fiber products and alternative products prices have risen in turn. In the future, the rising price of raw materials will lead to higher prices of clothing products, and more and more customers will just go shopping. Department stores will be caught in the dilemma of discount and profit making.

Fan Yanru, Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese general merchandise Association, does not think so. Fan said that the rise in cotton prices led to the rise in clothing and other cotton products prices as early as the beginning of the year, and consumers already had some consumption expectations. "Even if there is an impact, it is only phased, and the price of raw materials such as cotton has skyrocketed for a long time, which is in itself contrary to the laws of the market. In the future, it should be adjusted under the relevant state policies and regulations."

Moreover, the impact of rising prices of cotton and other raw materials on the real cost price of these cotton products is not large. Fan Yanru told the China Commercial Daily reporter that for these brand merchandise entering department stores, the real price cost is not raw materials, but from the intermediate links such as brand dealers and agents. Once entering the department store sales, plus the entry fee and the store rent, a commodity has been increased several times, raw materials are only a small part. Therefore, the impact of rising raw material prices on clothing and other prices is only a short-term phenomenon. With the decline of the prices of raw materials such as cotton, this phenomenon should be changed.

Famous brand The head of sales in Beijing area agrees with her. Although the prices of raw materials such as cotton have made fluctuations in the prices of major brands, but in fact, the substantial increase in cotton prices has little impact on the famous enterprises whose brand value is high and their profits are relatively high. The impact on the SMEs with low manual mechanization is the biggest because the enterprises rely on the raw materials market more highly and have almost no bargaining power in comparison with the channels.

Pei Liang also believes that the impact of rising prices of raw materials such as cotton on the general merchandise industry is not large, especially for high-end department stores. The impact on the high-end department stores is even smaller, because people in high-end department stores do not care much about the rise in commodity prices caused by rising prices of raw materials of 10% or even 50% to 100%, while mass department stores and fashion department stores that serve ordinary consumers are indeed affected, but this effect is only temporary.

"It is the continuous decline of residents' consumption expectations caused by the continuous rise of CPI, which makes residents begin to reduce their desire to buy clothes, shoes and bags, and so on, which may be a matter for future department stores to pay attention to and start coping with." Pei Liang said that the continuous upgrading of CPI will inevitably bring about a decline in the actual purchasing power of consumers, and the payment of food and other necessities will increase in the whole proportion of payments. The purchase of clothing and other items purchased by the department stores may decrease in the expected consumption of residents, which will become a major factor affecting the department store industry in the future. The department stores should make preparations for the "cold winter" ahead of this year's sales. {page_break}