Chapter 21 Section 2 Belle

In addition to C2C websites such as Taobao, there is also an important part of online retailing - B2C websites.Shopping on a B2C website is similar to shopping in a mall, or going to a specific store to purchase products.Obviously, the shopping experience in the bazaar is different from that in traditional stores.Since online retail must meet a specific shopping experience to be successful, for B2C websites, it means providing their customer base with at least the same shopping experience as in traditional stores. We selected some merchants who have achieved certain results in the traditional retail industry to test whether their experience can help them achieve the same success in the online retail industry.

Belle is the largest women's shoe retailer in mainland China, with a turnover of more than 17 billion yuan in 2008 and more than 6,000 self-operated retail stores.Belle also has its own website for online sales, but the rate of entry into the store is low, and it cannot bring objective benefits.Belle has already achieved success in the traditional retail industry, while online retailing should cost less, and in theory should be able to obtain greater profits.Why this opposite phenomenon?To answer this question, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the traditional retail industry, especially the women's shoe retail industry, what is the shopping experience in physical stores.

We believe that consumers must experience four points in the process of shopping in the stores of traditional merchants: selection, trial (for women's shoes, fashion, etc., try-on), collocation, and social interaction.In order to achieve the same success as physical stores, online stores must at least provide consumers with an experience that is not inferior to physical stores in terms of these four points. 1. Choose Every physical store will display all the products as much as possible, so that customers can see the most products at one time when shopping, increasing the possibility of choice.Taking women's shoes as an example, each pair of shoes is small, and the store can display more styles in a smaller space.For example, multi-layer display racks can be set up on one wall, and many styles can be displayed at the same time.Therefore, when customers step into the store, they can see these shoes on display with their naked eyes at once.

If it is online shopping, consumers can only face the computer screen.Limited by computer technology, the information that can be displayed on a computer screen at one time is very limited.Such as browsing the web, most of the information on the same web page needs to be seen by rolling the mouse.Compared with physical stores that passively receive all the information at one time, browsing the merchant's webpage undoubtedly increases the burden on consumers. In addition, the attractiveness of the decoration of the physical store to customers cannot be ignored.In order to allow customers to feel the brand culture and enhance their sense of recognition while shopping, different stores will design different styles of decoration according to the image of their respective brands to ensure a prominent image.Customers not only see the products in the store, but also experience the ideas behind the products under the multi-dimensional influence of store decoration materials and lighting.

For online shopping, so far, consumers have always faced computer screens, which can only provide a flat visual experience.In contrast, the three-dimensional experience of a physical store can naturally provide a better shopping atmosphere than the graphic art of a shopping website. More importantly, when customers are shopping, the clerks in the physical store can provide them with considerate and flexible services.The clerk can give a variety of opinions in real time for selection based on a deeper understanding of the product and combined with the information obtained from communicating with customers.On the contrary, when consumers shop online, they can only accept the information given on the web page unilaterally, lacking communication and humanized services.

2. Trial After choosing a product, what customers need more is a trial.Taking women's shoes as an example, it is a try-on. Shoes are a very close-fitting commodity. Most people wear a pair of shoes for at least 8 hours a day, so suitable shoes are extremely important.This point can be confirmed no matter from the traditional wisdom of the Chinese or the childish life of the Westerners.The idiom "cut the feet to fit the shoes", and Cinderella recognized the prince with a glass slipper are excellent examples.I believe that when everyone buys shoes in a physical store, they will try them on their feet first before paying with confidence.

In contrast to online shopping, we saw that the text description of a pair of boots on Belle's online store included "Leader: 2cm".It seems to be detailed, but in fact, for ordinary consumers, I am afraid that they can't even figure out what the "head" is, let alone the relationship between this number and the degree of fitness.There is also such a reminder: "If you really can't determine the number, please go to the counter to try it on first." It can be seen that even the merchants themselves have doubts about whether the text descriptions on the Internet can help consumers make accurate decisions.Therefore, for the women's footwear retail industry, the current online store cannot compete with the brick-and-mortar store in terms of the experience of trying on shoes.

3. collocation Compared with trying on, the deeper experience is matching. Some standardized commodities, such as air tickets, electrical appliances, mobile phones, etc., are relatively independent when used, and can already exert most of their functions without cooperation with other commodities.But if it is women's shoes, matching is very important.Especially for brands like Belle, which pursue fashion, most of the buyers are women who pursue trends. The requirements for shoes are not only comfortable, but also match with clothing, handbags, accessories, etc.Every physical store of clothes and shoes has a common feature, which is the mirror for customers.It can be seen that allowing customers to see the actual effect of matching is one of the most basic and important experiences when shopping.

The same experience is difficult to replicate in online stores.For example, in Belle's online store, consumers can only see Belle's shoes, but not the clothes and accessories that need to be matched with the shoes.And due to the limitations of current computer technology, the images of clothes, shoes, etc. that consumers can see on the Internet are all flat, unrelated pictures.Most of the effect of the whole collocation needs to be imagined by consumers.If you consider the changes that can be combined with each person's different looks and figures, it is even more endless.It can be seen that it is difficult for online stores to replicate the collocation experience that physical stores can provide at this stage.

4. Social Shopping, for women, is not only a way to buy favorite products, but also a way to communicate with peers and a social experience. When women are shopping, they all like to hang out in groups. On the one hand, they can provide references to each other, and on the other hand, they can chat and enhance friendship during the shopping process.Therefore, when women meet for shopping, especially shopping in physical stores, it is decided that they must go out of the house and have face-to-face communication, which satisfies their emotional demands.This is the same whether you buy clothes, shoes, or anything else.

And online shopping, according to the characteristics of the network, people do not have to socialize face to face.The unlimited time of the Internet, while providing convenience to consumers, also means that each individual can purchase by himself without meeting.In this way, online shopping has greatly weakened the social function and experience of shopping for women. Based on the comparison of the above four points, we found that the reason why Belle's online store was not as successful as its physical store was that it failed to provide the same shopping experience. So, is it a wrong move for Belle to open an online store?We don't think so.Although Belle's display of its products in the online store does not bring considerable profits, it can increase the exposure of its products, attract the attention of netizens, and prompt them to shop in physical stores, which has a publicity effect.