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TIPTOE DANCE

Retailers state: in 2017, the struggle for the customer has become "more refined", "the buyer no longer wants "frontal" promotions, but increasingly "high" service even in the mass market, "retail impressions » and other «tiptoe dancing ».

"The war for the buyer is definitely going on," sighs Nikolai Goslavsky. Yes, sometimes it turns into a guerrilla stage, but active hostilities are underway now, and it will be strange if this war ever ends at all. The buyer does not give up, does not relax, he becomes more demanding, picky, knowledgeable and active. One way or another, but this is reflected in the goods: the client wants to get something unique, fashionable, of decent quality. This trend, of course, penetrates into the fashion segment, which is quite conservative in its essence. If you look at the clothing store now and a century and a half ago, we can say that there are practically no fundamental changes that have occurred in other retail segments. However, the time has come when fashion retail is fighting for customers using really new technologies, and not only due to the rapid development of e-commerce, but also due to the penetration of innovations into the usual trading floor. If the store has nothing but a good price, then more creative and flexible players have a great chance to "select" a part of the customer audience for themselves.

Brandon O'Reilly, managing director of FASHION HOUSE Group, which develops a network of outlets in Russia and Europe, also reports that it is the level of service that is beginning to have an increasing impact on retail. In particular, the role of the restaurant offer is increasing: food is becoming a new fashion. "Our regular research shows that customers not only began to spend more time and money at the outlet center, but, more importantly, they regularly return and recommend the outlet to their friends and relatives," Mr. O'Reilly continues. – ​This is also due to the service – visitors want to have a snack, restaurants have become an important part of our centers. After the opening of the second stage of the center in November 2016, the total available area of the food court reached almost 2,000 square meters. According to Brandon O'Reilly, most customers are now counting on "entertainment" shopping. "They don't just come to find the right brand, but they want to have a good time in the outlet center," the expert explains. A new type of leisure-loving shoppers has emerged, and this creates fantastic opportunities for outlets. For example, in the FASHION HOUSE OUTLET Center Moscow, we opened the so-called Red Carpet Alley, which is conveniently located and includes the most famous brands in the world. What else is worth noting is the development of new technologies. Modern customers need convenient online shopping with special offers and discounts adjusted to the needs of customers.

In difficult times, retailers are most actively experimenting with new formats, but not always successfully, Nikolai Goslavsky objects. "An example from our practice is a pilot project of an interactive mirror in the mass market segment," Mr. Goslavsky shares. Despite the fact that the solution proved its direct commercial effectiveness in practice, the retailer was not ready for full-fledged implementation in infrastructure. As a result, the pilot project worked for some time as an ef­fecal «toy » and was gradually forgotten. Fashion retailers often do not understand what amounts of investments are required for the full implementation of innovative ways of customer service.

HEIRLOOMS

"It's been three full years since the beginning of the crisis, and all this time there has been a reduction in income and optimization of citizens' expenses," recalls Mikhail Petrov. – The buyer is used to rational spending, spending­­­sales, searching for the best offer on the Internet ».

Alexey Vanchugov, Managing Partner of Vanchugov & Partners, supports: although the essence of the technologies used by the networks in the past year is not new, the scale of their use has definitely become different. «The Familia chain did it to the fullest –the vacant premises of most landlords were used by Familia for a full-scale transition from street retail of the industrial zone level to respectable high-quality shopping centers, – says Mr. Vanchugov. – ​We ourselves did not notice how the network moved from the backyards to the temples of trade. But, in my opinion, the most optimal location of such formats is retail parks, where the concept of one stop shop is applied, when in one go you can make all the necessary purchases in an economical mode. High-quality fashionable clothes fit perfectly into this format. The retail park as an idea is somewhat similar to the off-price format: the buyer performs the maximum number of useful actions per unit of time and the minimum money.

Mikhail Petrov calls the breakthrough of the year strategy 12 storeez and I am. "Both brands work uniquely well with their target audience, open stores whose turnover can be envied by the luminaries of the shopping center market," Mr. Petrov reports. Brands for Generation Z are a tasty morsel for any investor. Reserved has carried out a reconstruction of its stores and an upgrade of the model design. The declared level is very high, and finally there is a chance to compete with H&M and get its market share. "But I would rather single out a whole trend that will definitely become mass sooner or later," smart clothes," Nikolai Goslavsky believes. – Fabrics that effectively restore muscles in sleep, jeans with vibration on incoming messages to a smartphone, smart sneakers that save workout statistics to the cloud, – all these are absolutely real products.».

As for the "fiasco of the year", according to Mikhail Petrov, it was the stores "Podium Market". "An attempt to create a federal chain of department stores failed: a failure with a scandal and hundreds of lawsuits," sighs Mikhail Petrov. "Against the background of a difficult but stable situation in trade, the demand for space from young Russian brands that are active on the Internet and ready to develop, including through traditional sales channels, is increasing. With the development of the payment scheme for a percentage of turnover, the attention of landlords from the financial plane will shift to the plane of working with the end consumer.

Nikolai Goslavsky calls "personal disappointment of the year" ECCO shoes. "Against the background of good success in e-commerce, they failed the quality of shoes, the one that is sewn in factories in Taiwan," the expert shares. – And I was very disappointed».

To be continued.

Text: Evgeny Arsenin

Photo: shutterstock.com