The development history of department stores in China has been a long time, and it has basically reached a mature stage. Since the early years of the Republic of China, Shixian Department Store in Shanghai has a history of nearly a hundred years. Every chain department store and professional management consulting and research institution has accumulated rich operational experience, and has done a good job in the preparation and operation of new stores and the upgrading of old stores, but there are still shortcomings. This article talks about some simple views on the development and transformation of department stores, hoping to attract more attention and benefit the long-term healthy development of department stores. I divide the development of department stores in China into three periods. The first period was the development of department stores in Kuomintang-controlled areas before 19 12 10, when overseas Chinese in Australia opened their first department store in Shanghai. The second is the development period of department stores from the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the Third Plenary Session of the Party in1978; Third, from 1 1 the Third Plenary Session of the Third Central Committee to the present development period of modern department stores. The opening of Shixian Department Store is the beginning for overseas Chinese to introduce advanced retail model into China. Later, similar department stores appeared in Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing and other places, which were generally operated by the national government. By the time 1949 New China was founded, almost all provincial capitals had opened department stores of different sizes. Department stores in this historical period have very obvious characteristics of the times: official nature, superior geographical location, small business area, single product variety, specific consumer groups and so on. 1949 Shortly after the founding of New China, the period of public-private partnership began. A large number of government-run department stores left over from the Republic of China were directly taken over, and a few excellent private department stores also began to develop during the joint venture period; Due to the country's economic difficulties in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the losses caused by the Cultural Revolution in 10, under the planned economy system, the development of department stores in this period was very limited, mainly to provide basic means of subsistence for the people of the whole country. All goods were planned to be supplied in the form of department stores. Department stores in this period have the characteristics of huge commercial network (from provincial level to township level), highly unified commodity scheduling and basically satisfying general consumption. In the first two periods, department stores were dominated by seller's market. Although the social form is very different, it has also experienced a long development period of 66 years. At the 1 1 Third Plenary Session of the CPC in 1978, the basic development policy of "reform and opening up and building Socialism with Chinese characteristics" was established. With the gradual increase of ports open to the outside world and the rapid development of China's economy, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and New Zealand have also strengthened their investment in Chinese mainland. After years of market exploration before 1989 10, Pacific Department Store, Parkson Department Store, Ito Yanghuatang Department Store, Seibu Department Store, sogou and Paris Spring Department Store began to develop in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Since joining WTO, China has more than 50 self-owned fashion department store brands, such as Wangfujing, Zhuo Zhan, Baiguang, Dayang, Crossing the Rainbow, Saite, Century Jinhua, Minsheng, New World, China Resources, Causeway Bay, Yintai, New Mart, Meimei and Lane Crawford. The department store industry in China has entered a mature stage of all-round development and perfection. Walking in the circle of mature department stores is more about endless knowledge and motivation to work hard. Both foreign and local department stores have success and failure cases. Some were successful at first, but after a year or two of development, they began to fail, unable to find the reason, and finally died; Some failed at first, but after careful investigation and analysis, targeted reforms were carried out, and they re-entered the track of success and developed. We are all here to talk about the transformation of department stores. So, what kind of department stores need to be transformed? The transformation of department stores can be roughly divided into two types, one is comprehensive rectification transformation, and the other is targeted upgrading transformation. According to the different problems of department stores, we implement different transformation schemes. General developers open department stores for the purpose of making profits and creating a long-term and stable source of cash flow; The second is to provide the required services for the consumer groups in the region and ensure the balance between supply and demand. This is also the root of the need for reform in many department stores. Needless to say, everyone knows about the balance between profit and supply and demand, but most people can't do it when they do it. All successful department stores have achieved long-term and stable profit targets on the premise of fully meeting the balance between supply and demand. Next, I will briefly talk about these two transformations on two successful department store projects in Shaanxi for your discussion. The first project is located in Xi 'an, an ancient city, which used to be a relatively prosperous area. Due to the construction of the subway, it has been intercepted outside the prosperity for a long time; At the same time, within one kilometer of Fiona Fang, a 30,000-square-meter Volkswagen department store has sprung up, basically taking away the original prosperity. An opportunity friend introduced me to the developer of this project, and let me think about the countermeasures. So I made a rectification plan after detailed investigation and analysis, and naturally took over the project. First of all, due to the natural separation of subway construction, the total consumption population of the project has decreased by nearly 40%; Secondly, the strong opening of the nearby 30,000-square-meter department store has had a strong impact on my 25,000-square-meter project. In addition to doing better in cosmetics and sports, my competitors have also strengthened the investment promotion of women's wear categories, and most of the popular brands active in major department stores in Xi' an have entered; Three, the subway construction affects my project for more than two months, and it must be rectified immediately; The fourth is good news, that is, the project has only received three complaints in the past two years, and the handling result is very good, which is basically proved by my observation of the shopping mall in the past week; Fifth, most of the developer's funds are withdrawn, which makes the confidence of the project out of the predicament firm, which is the best news for me; Sixth, after the opening of the nearby 30,000-square-meter project, a branch of a university moved to this area-this should be an important breakthrough for the successful transformation of the project. On the basis of the advantages and disadvantages of the above 3: 3 news, I started the rectification work of the project. This is a targeted rectification, the purpose is to recapture the original market and increase its influence, because the project can still be basically flat at this time. After I decided to upgrade the project, I first asked the developer in writing, and the result coincides with mine. So I held a mobilization meeting for the heads of major departments of the company at the first time, and all the developers participated. At the meeting, in addition to encouraging the team with firm confidence on a regular basis, I also set up a special investment promotion team to attract investment from KFC, McDonald's and digital electronic products for the emerging and powerful consumer groups in the new campus of the university, and the news of investment promotion was blocked within two months; Then, a 4500-square-meter comprehensive supermarket and a four-story budget cinema also entered my investment list. Of course, it is imperative to modify the moving line. At this time, the floor layout has become: B14,500 square comprehensive lifestyle supermarket (the original sports store moved to the fourth floor, leaving only nearly 20 key brands such as Nike Adip Ma, increasing the counter business area and playing experience cards), F 1 KFC or McDonald's, automatic withdrawal points of CCB and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and internal cosmetics area to expand the cosmetics business area; Rectify the brand of jewelry area, only keep four counters such as Laofengxiang and Daimengde, introduce fashionable silver jewelry brands such as Bangkok Silver, Old Silversmith, Pirate Ship and Indian Silver Jewelry to attract young consumers, and set up 1 1,000 specialty store for women's shoes and handbags; F2 fashion brand store for men and women, 2000 square electronic digital experience square; F3 Volkswagen clothing, shoes and hats general store and food court (3, 4 cross-level operation); F4 sports boutique experience store, budget cinema and food court have accumulated rich manufacturer resources because I have worked in Xi 'an market for many years. Thanks to the joint efforts of our colleagues and Qi Xin, our secret investment promotion is progressing smoothly, and certain concessions to individual secondary head offices have also been approved by the developers. After 55 days of the project, the investment was basically completed and the rectification plan was implemented; Thanks to the full communication with the merchants before, the adjustment was very smooth. In return, the company also proposed to build an overpass and 1 month rent-free period. The rectification work has achieved great success. The monthly sales volume (actually 19 days including the cross-decoration period) has caught up with the level before the subway repair. Nearby residents and college students have become the main customers, and I finally got the bet right! Not only retained the original merchants, but also completed a major exchange of blood and successfully upgraded the project, which became a force to be reckoned with in the business circle. Friends say I gamble, but which professional manager doesn't have this gambling? The other project was carried out in 2007, to put it simply, because this project almost closed down due to external factors, which is equivalent to a comprehensive transformation of the project. The project is located in a remote prefecture-level city in Shaanxi, and its location is not the best, but the surrounding troops, industrial factories and mines are very stable, and the failure of the project can almost be attributed to the initial positioning of the youth sports concept store. I found the crux of the failure, and had a targeted conversation with the dealers in the shopping mall at the first time. I found that everyone was still willing to operate here, but the shopping mall always restricted them from operating sports and leisure brands, which made them uncomfortable and their sales were not good. This is obviously caused by the wishful thinking of the original managers and the violation of the basic laws of the market. The shopping mall is not large, with a business area of about 1.4 million square meters. There are 96 counters and 74 dealers. I sent someone to ask for the opinions of several dealers who run more than two counters at the same time. They are willing to renovate the shopping center with us. According to the basic characteristics that the surrounding population is over 35 years old and accounts for 60%, and there is no real supermarket, I made a combined format scheme of 5000 square meters and 9000 square meters comprehensive department stores, and put forward a more concise and lively scheme to transform the facade of the project. The three floors operate respectively: F 1 middle and high-grade cosmetics, gold jewelry and mass optical shops; F2 mid-range men's and women's clothing accessories, boutique sports and leisure experience hall; The developers of F3 5000 comprehensive life supermarket are most interested in my supermarket, and all deny that the original sports and leisure positioning is a bit risky. I analyzed the structure and life preferences of the main consumer groups around him, and he nodded reluctantly and said with a grain of salt, give it a try. I said that the project transformation is risky, but we make the transformation plan according to the local actual situation and use our professional ethics to ensure the implementation quality, just to minimize this risk, let the project get out of the predicament as soon as possible and realize the profit target. In the end, the developer signed the transformation execution book and agreed to my plan. I know he took a big risk, and I thank him for his trust in me with practical actions. Re-inviting investment is the biggest problem of this project, so I invited the general agent of Xi 'an to the project to have face-to-face talks with the merchants who are willing to stay and continue to operate in the mall; I also sent someone to take them to the exhibition hall of Xi 'an agent to actually understand the brand situation and talk about the distribution policy for them. In the end, everything paid off. After 26 days of hard work, I ushered in the collective signing day. On that day, I signed 2 1 contract. The developer was overjoyed and immediately decided on the investment reception I applied for. With the success of the invitation mobilization reception, a local supermarket chain in Shaanxi also signed a contract with us, and the completion rate of project investment promotion reached over 90%. While making the opening-up plan, I increased the investment attraction to other areas. By the week before the opening, I had completed the investment of 100% under my "harsh policy"! However, my investment promotion department immediately entered the stage of brand reserve and began to pave the way for business guidance after opening. On the day of reopening, the local mayor also delivered a speech. In the noisy atmosphere, the mayor said, this is the mall they want, and people don't have to save money for consumption in Xi' an anymore! Some of my employees immediately burst into tears, which is the result of their painstaking efforts and more than 30 hours of sleepless nights! On the opening day, the total sales of department stores was 6.5438+0.04 million, and the developers were also excited. They held my hand tightly and held it for a long time ... it was difficult for everyone to make a department store, and the transformation was even more difficult. So, do all department stores need to be remodeled? Broadly speaking, yes. The benign development of department store transformation is generally called adjustment, which is to make it close to perfection step by step; For department stores that are difficult to make profits and negative profits, we need to use the targeted upgrade and all-round rectification and transformation mentioned above. Through this transformation, it will undergo a great transformation of goodness and eventually become close to perfection. In the process of transformation, there will be obstacles in all aspects, from dealers or developers, and other unexpected aspects. In fact, the real reason for their obstacles is fear of failure and failure again! No one is afraid of failure, including those of us who do business wholeheartedly and professionally, but only by formulating and implementing accurate and effective plans step by step according to scientific methods can we dispel the doubts of these obstacles, increase the protection of their investment, bring good development to their projects and make efforts to balance the local consumption structure.