Today's young people, when renting a house, not only to see the convenience of transportation, but also to see if there is a convenience store nearby; When traveling, it will be a plus if there is a convenience store near the hotel. Needless to say, convenience stores have become a place for young people to "continue their lives".
In the Guangzhou market, the number of 7-11 stores ranks first among foreign convenience stores. In order to provide more convenient and innovative services to more young people, Guangdong 7-11 is becoming younger and making many beneficial attempts and changes.
More influencer products
Since the beginning of the year, Guangdong 7-11 has launched more and more "net red" products that young people like, and almost every quarter will launch new products and marketing activities with themes, including many joint products related to well-known fast fashion and star fashion brands. In order to exchange for the joint product launched by Guangdong 7-11 convenience store and Jay Chou's Chao brand, fans can even fly across most of China to Guangzhou.
In addition to jay Chou's tide brand co-brand products, from the Spring Festival to April this year, Guangdong 7-11 has also launched a variety of unique and creative new products, including exclusive customized New Year gifts "French Fernand Snow Brick Gift Box", "Japanese Fashion Nikoand Joint Blind Box", creative "Cup Insert" and so on.
Some of these products that poke young people's G-spot have become gifts bought by many young people to give to friends because of their good meaning and moderate price, some have been made into rings and hairpins to carry around because of their creativity, and some even open-box videos have been sent to social platforms to cause a crowd of onlookers.
Behind these new products and corresponding marketing activities, a signal is released: in the memory of the post-70s and post-80s, convenience stores closely related to fish eggs and Silefan are not only becoming younger and more cordial, but also becoming more diversified.
More convenient consumption patterns
At this stage, with the effective prevention and control of the epidemic, China's consumer market has gradually recovered, and the pulling effect on economic growth is also gradually picking up. Coupled with the remarkable results of the policy of expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption, the potential of social consumption has been further stimulated. It is worth mentioning that the data of the seventh census of our country has recently been released, and the data shows that the "new generation of young people" will become the "leader" of consumption trends.
The China Chain Store & Franchise Association and KPMG jointly released the "2021 China Convenience Store Development Report", which also pointed out that the consumption structure and demand have shown a variety of development trends with the market development and the impact of the epidemic, and the changes in consumption channels and consumption concepts have also put forward new requirements for convenience stores, of which shopping convenience, experience scenario, category upgrading and digital drive will be the four core development trends of convenience store enterprises. As the core users of convenience stores, the demand for digitalization and convenience of shopping by "new generations of young people" has become a twister that triggers the transformation of the convenience store industry.
According to the "iResearch 2021 Instant Retail Industry Research Report", the composition of total social retail sales still accounts for 70% of offline retail sales. Offline physical stores are still the main body of retail. In the face of the new era and new needs, Guangdong 7-11 actively responded, upgraded the store equipment, and the customer's consumption process was smoother and the transaction speed was improved. In terms of membership services, we have also completed the upgrade of electronics. The reporter learned that as of July 30 this year, more than 1,400 stores in Guangdong 7-11 Province have all launched a new system that can meet multi-scenario, omni-channel and full supply chain.
More differentiation
Data provided by enterprises show that from 2018 to 2020, the net increase of 7-11 stores in Guangdong has reached nearly 500. Among them, the fastest growth in 2019, with more than 200 stores opened. In 2020, even if there is a sudden outbreak, there is a net increase of more than 120. According to third-party research institutions in the retail industry, Guangdong 7-11 sales growth this year is expected to be in double digits. It is reported that by the end of September, the number of 7-11 stores in Guangdong is expected to exceed 1500.
Behind the large-scale development of Guangdong 7-11 is its deep understanding and effective implementation of "differentiated management".
Retail industry experts believe that the need to get consumers back to offline stores is a core factor in their considerations. Therefore, after insight into the preferences of young consumers, Guangdong 7-11 took "trend, youth, fashion, innovation" as the keyword, continued to launch new products with different themes, and cooperated with corresponding marketing activities. In addition, consumers' sought after internet celebrity products will also try to search for them, preemptively put on the shelves, and will be updated regularly, so that customers always come to the store with expectations.
According to data released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, the number of traditional convenience store stores in China reached 144,000 in 2020, and even if the growth rate slowed down, the year-on-year increase reached 9%. For consumers, especially in large-scale cities, there are so many convenience stores to choose from, and the choice to go to Guangdong 7-11 for consumption is not only because 7-11 provides things that young people like, but also because it has the advantage of "no one has me, and people have my superiority". The "own products" and "exclusive products" launched by 7-11 are differentiated products based on the above business philosophy. These things, which can only be bought at 7-11, and activities that can only be participated in on 7-11, make young consumers fall in love with 7-11 and leave consumer behavior at 7-11.
In the next 3 to 5 years, sustainable development driven by the improvement of operational capabilities is an important development direction for convenience store enterprises in the future. Guangdong 7-11 still has a long way to go on this road, and it is constantly improving its operational capabilities to provide young people with a more convenient and fashionable consumption model!