How to open two successful stores in one small city?
“We have a network of small multi-brand stores up to 100 squares in size. Assortment - women's, men's and rubber shoes from Turkey, China, Russia. Now in one city near Moscow, we are successfully operating a large store in the format of street retail. It is well-developed, customers know and love it, there is a huge database of discounters. The city is small - about 30 of thousands of inhabitants, but in the summer months the population rises to 100 thousands due to summer residents. Now a new shopping center is being built in the city, and we are literally forced to get up there, otherwise someone else will take the place. And now we have a problem: in what concept is opening a store in a shopping center? We do not want to duplicate the format of a successful store in street retail, since it is not a fact that it will be just as successful in the shopping center, and the flows of people will naturally be distributed. We are afraid to get involved in franchising in this difficult time. While we are inclined to the version, open a youth version of the store in the shopping center, and in the existing store, turn on the sale assortment. But will this decision be true? In general, tell me how to open two chain stores in one small city? ”
Response of Maria Gerasimenko, CEO of Clever Fashion consulting company:
“First of all, you need to evaluate the concept, target audience and potential traffic of the shopping center in which you are going to get up. Find out what anchor tenants there will be from the segments “products”, “electronics”, “entertainment”, “clothes and shoes”. So you can determine the opportunities and interests of the potential audience, because it’s one thing if the food “anchor” is Pyaterochka, and another thing is if the “Crossroads”. Of course, customers visiting “Scarlet Sails” or “Green Crossroads” will have completely different requests. Depending on which audience the shopping center concept is designed for, form the concept of your store. Otherwise, you simply will not find your buyer in this shopping center. The youth version should be opened only if the shopping center is clearly focused on this audience: for example, it will have a cinema, and among tenants there will be brands of youth clothes and shoes. In general, in the formation of collections, focus on the "anchors" and build on consumer needs. As for the store in street retail, you should not make sudden movements with it, otherwise you will lose this store without developing a new one. For now, leave your “cash cow” in the form in which it makes a profit, and when it becomes clear that the shopping center represents itself in fact - and not at the request of the developers - you can decide on the future strategy. ”
Answer of Alexey Baranov, CEO of Retail Solutions:
“First of all, I would ask myself the question of how appropriate it would be in principle to open a store in this shopping center. First, ask the developer for a planogram and see which federal players and in what places will be represented in this shopping center. If this is a city near Moscow with a population of 30 of thousands of inhabitants, then I doubt that it will be a professionally made shopping center, into which federal chains are ready to come. Most likely, your competitors will be IPs with a wide variety of products - from rubber rings to jewelry. It makes sense to compete for a buyer in this shopping center only if there are strong shoe competitors from the city among these tenants. Otherwise, it is not at all clear why getting up there. It is very difficult to keep two points with a considerable rent in a city with such a population, and before opening a store in a shopping center, calculate its economy: transfer sales from the square of an existing store to the store area in the shopping center and see if the new store adds a percentage to the turnover. If so, you can already think about the format, but do not invest too much. And, by the way, I would not count on the success of the youth concept, since young people from cities near Moscow usually go to Moscow MEGU to buy. As for the existing store, then turning it into a sale does not make sense, especially if the audience has already developed. On the contrary, its customer pool needs to be increased, and if you feel that the outflow of customers to the shopping center has begun, it will be possible to gradually transfer the successful format to the shopping center. ”
“First of all, I would ask myself the question of how appropriate it would be in principle to open a store in this shopping center. To do this, collect the following information:
• After talking with the management company of the shopping center under construction, ask for a planogram - operators who have confirmed their presence in the center can be marked on it. The presence of popular federal tenants is, in a sense, the key to the success of a project. The presence of a food court, a cinema is also a plus.
• Look at the projects already put into operation by this management company - visit them. So you can understand the professionalism, the experience in planning a shopping center, evaluate the infrastructure, logistics and customer flows, the level of consumer that this UK counts on.
• Make a map of the city, mark the existing trade arrays on it - evaluate the consumer flow yourself. Whether this shopping center is planned in the city center or beyond its outskirts, the revenue schedule, its attendance and the overall result will depend on this.
After collecting the information received, proceed to the analysis and answer the following questions:
• Is there a real need to open a second point? Why? Does the opening of the shopping center bring potential competition in your product segment, or do you see commercial potential in this idea?
• What format / footage / with what assortment / who is next / at what rental rate should the new store work?
• If you have answers to the first 2 questions - write a business plan.
For an existing store, I would not have made any significant changes - the clientele is well-fed, loyal and accustomed. If you feel an outflow with the opening of the shopping center, you will have to optimize the business, but not the fact that this outflow will happen.
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