Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 6 (Reporter Jining) Column-type digital screens distributed on various floors, immersive 3D naked-eye technology, eye-catching sculpture digital light and shadow shows that attract people to stop, store electronic screens showing various goods... Walk into the Cuiwei Department Store located in beijing's Princess Tomb business district, full of scientific and technological fans.
As a key unit of the renewal and iteration of Beijing Princess Tomb Business Circle, Cuiwei Department Store, a 24-year-old traditional shopping mall, has been renovated for 8 months, and after 8 months of store closure and transformation, it will be re-installed at the end of 2021, and the mall will introduce nearly 100 new brands, and then add theaters, digital bookstores, net red catering and other formats to realize the transformation from traditional department stores to commercial complexes and expand the consumption supply of the Princess Tomb business district.
After the transformation of Cuiwei Department Store, the digital screen attracts the attention of consumers. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Kuang Zhenxing, chairman of Cuiwei Group, introduced: "Before the adjustment of Cuiwei Department Store, there was a situation of dense layout, poor business formats, and low concentration of high-end brands, and it was difficult to take into account the needs of various consumer groups. This adjustment has realized category optimization and brand upgrading, through space improvement and scene shaping, building a new social experience space, and achieving dislocation linkage with other neighboring shopping malls, which can increase the radiation range of the Princess Tomb business circle and attract customers of different ages and consumption capabilities. ”
The changes in the Princess Tomb business district reflect the scene of accelerated iteration of the urban business circle system. The business district is an important carrier for the cultivation and construction of international consumption centers, and is a microcosm of the consumption status of an city. With the continuous emergence of new forms such as "Generation Z", "National Tide" and "Overseas Purchase", traditional business districts have been difficult to meet the diversified needs of consumers.
"Some traditional business district systems have a relatively single operating structure, homogeneous combinations of business formats, and insufficient infrastructure facilities, which cannot attract more consumer groups." Yang Ling, deputy director of the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that the cooperation between government departments and market entities has promoted the renewal and iteration of the business circle system.
In the remodeled Cuiwei Department Store, the 3D naked-eye facility has just been commissioned. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Ning
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to November 2021, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the country increased by 13.7% year-on-year, still maintaining rapid growth, and the consumer market continued to recover. Stable and good consumer demand has given the market confidence and left enough room for improvement for the iteration of urban business circles. At present, many places with the government or the market as the main body have successively launched the transformation and upgrading of key traditional business districts, attracting commercial brand resources to gather, enhancing consumer social attributes, and expanding consumption scenarios... A series of new changes have stimulated the vitality of urban commerce.
In Shanghai, the nearly 500-meter East Extension section of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street opened in September 2020, realizing the "hand-in-hand" of the two landmarks of Nanjing East Road and the Bund. In addition to infrastructure transformation, Nanjing Road has also introduced a number of long-established brands and trendy stores to pile up, turning into a display window for new stores, new products and new technologies. In the Beijing Road business district in Guangzhou, after more than a year of transformation, the façade of many arcade buildings in the business circle has been refined, and merchants have introduced intelligent application systems such as unmanned trucks, 3D fittings, and 5G live broadcast rooms, and the passenger flow and revenue after the transformation have continued to grow.
Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Commercial Economics of Beijing Technology and Business University, believes that promoting the transformation and upgrading of business districts in various places will help accelerate the development of consumption, enrich and upgrade new formats, promote the construction of new business cards for the image of the city, promote the sustained and healthy development of the domestic market, and tap the consumption potential of commerce.
At the merchandise counter of Cuiwei Department Store, customers are shopping for new cosmetics. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Ning
The old business district is updating, and the emerging business district is not far behind. Beijing's Taikoo Li West District, which was transformed and upgraded from a traditional commercial building, began soft operation in November 2021, and Beijing Sanlitun, known as the "fashion vane", ushered in a capacity expansion and upgrade. The geometric glass curtain façade made of glass material and white metal plate splicing together makes the mall look modern, gathering a large number of trendy retail and catering brands, and the average daily passenger flow on weekends during the trial operation reaches 20,000 people.
Yang Beibei, deputy mayor of Chaoyang District, Beijing, introduced that the government and relevant enterprises signed a cooperation framework agreement to transform a depot north of Taikoo Li North District of Sanlitun into part of the Sanlitun business district to provide bearing space for more first stores and flagship stores.
At the policy level, we continue to focus on the development of business districts. In July 2021, the State Council approved the five cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing to take the lead in cultivating and building international consumption centers. Relevant cities have promulgated implementation plans for cultivating and building international consumption center cities, which involve measures to improve the quality and expansion of traditional business districts and build emerging business districts.
In August 2021, the Ministry of Commerce issued the Guidelines for the Construction of Urban Business Districts (Draft for Comment), proposing to reasonably determine the overall scale of urban business districts, optimize network layout, and improve service functions in combination with relevant urban planning. For example, combined with the characteristics of megacities and urban renewal, benchmarking international first-class business districts and commercial streets, attracting high-end commercial brands and resources at home and abroad.
Guo Wenjie, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said: "By the end of 2021, 22 traditional commercial districts in Beijing will basically complete the upgrading. Cultivating and building an international consumption center city, beijing will optimize the consumption layout in the next step and accelerate the construction process of 200 to 3 world-class business districts with a scale of 200 billion. ”