Sales floor revolution What is consumption in the era of not buying at stores? September 15, 18:00

Where do you buy what you want?

Is it a group that decides and buys at the store?

Or is it a one-click group on your smartphone?

Nowadays, new forms of consumption that "take the good points" of stores and online shopping are spreading in Japan as well.

What kind of charm will be created by the fusion of storefronts and the Internet?

We covered a new shopping site.

(Satomi Mogi, Reporter, Ministry of Economic Affairs)

A store that "experiences" rather than "buys"

I visited the store on the first floor of a building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo to see the cutting-edge consumption site.

We handle more than 70 types of the latest home appliances and bedding.

All of them are lined with unique products that are hard to find at mass retailers.

For example, when you hold your hand in front of the frame, you can see the world's art works one after another on the "digital canvas".

"Wise earplugs" that lower the volume by 20 decibels.

There is also an AI-equipped "pet robot" that models the growth of creatures and changes in emotions.

At first glance, there is no commonality in products ...

In fact, at this store, venture companies that developed the products rent a part of the store to display the products.

It is operated by the venture company "b8ta (beta)", which was born in Silicon Valley, USA.

The store earns sales by renting a space 60 cm wide x 40 cm deep to a company under a six-month contract.

The biggest feature is that the store does not "sell" products.

When a customer wants to pick up a product or try it out, he / she can jump to the purchase-only page from the tablet next to the product and make a reservation or purchase from the Internet.

When I asked a man in his 50s about his impressions of the store, he said, "It's a store that doesn't sell, but I think it's good because you can experience various products. It's fun without getting bored."

Customer reaction creates value for the company

There are staff in the store, but they just explain the product and do not strongly recommend the product.

Rather, it sometimes explains how difficult it is to use the product, such as "Some customers said that the handle was heavy."

At this store, the behavior of the customer itself is more important than the sales of the product, how much the product has stopped.

Twenty-five cameras on the ceiling of the store identify the age and gender of the customers, anonymously analyze the people who passed in front of the product and those who stopped, and also provided the voice of the clerk who served the customer as data to the store opening company. I am.

As a store-opening company, it is a mechanism that can obtain live reactions from customers that could not be seen only by conventional online shopping, and can be linked to the next product development and sales strategy.

Such a mechanism is also called OMO (Online Merges with Offline) in the sense of "fusion of online and offline (real store)".

It's been a year since we opened two stores in Tokyo last August.

So far, a total of 450,000 people have visited the store and handled more than 500 products from about 240 companies.

Many companies have said that the number of people visiting their sales sites has increased as a result of opening a store, so we plan to open a third store in Japan in Shibuya in November.

Mr. Oshima

"Since its opening, it has been visited by a wide range of age groups. Since it claims to be a" retailer that does not sell, "I feel that customers are relieved of the pressure to buy and simply enjoy the product."

Adversity department store industry follows

The retail “big ship” department store industry is also trying to follow the venture-led movement of fusion of storefronts and the Internet / OMO.

This month, Sogo & Seibu, a major company, opened a specialized floor in its store in Shibuya, Tokyo.

The department store industry is in the midst of headwinds, with inbound demand "evaporating" due to the aging of the customer base, the rise of specialty stores, and the recent sharp decline in the number of customers due to refraining from going out due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.

The spread of online shopping has also contributed to the difficult business environment.

By incorporating the know-how of "online," which was a business enemy, we are trying to survive.

About 50 companies are open on the specialized floor.

Most of them specialize in online sales without having their own stores, and it is said that this is the first store to open in a department store.

Arrange the products in a space of 60 cm square and ask the customers to try them.

The difference from the beta is that the cash register is left in the store.

Customers read the QR code of their favorite product with their smartphone and settle at the cash register.

Payment is cashless and can only be used with credit cards or e-commerce.

You can also deliver to your home, but you can pick up the item in the store if you wish.

The department store's aim is to consider "the joy of bringing back your favorite items" as one of the important experiences, and to use it for purchasing at other sales floors.

Providing customer behavior data to the store opening company is the same, but it retains more actual store functions than the beta.

Approaching the younger generation

Narrowing down the target audience to the younger generation was also a big challenge for department stores.

The product concept is "sustainability," which is said to be of great interest to teens and 20s.

We have a lineup of products suitable for the sound material-cycle society, such as detergents made from scallop shells that had been thrown away, and vases and glasses made of glass such as scraps.

We emphasized the perspective of young people, who tend to learn about global environmental issues in class and examine whether they are environmentally friendly when choosing products.

A male customer in his twenties, who often shop online, said, "The first impression is that it's fashionable. If you can deliver what's lined up in the store, I think it's convenient without having to carry around the product." I was talking.

A group of young people from outside the company, such as designers in their 20s and 30s and representatives of IT companies, has taken the lead in reforming the sales floor, which requires bold ideas.

In the future, the company wants to analyze the reaction of customers and the sales of the products it handles, and verify whether it can be expanded to other stores.

Mr. Ito

"A drastic new challenge. The companies that open stores change every six months according to the theme, and I want to aim for a floor that continues to change."

Reiwa's "store building" is asked

In the fusion of department stores and the Internet, Matsuya also launched a new jewelry brand focusing on online sales last month and started introducing it at stores.

What kind of store would consumers want to visit in the era of Reiwa, where people can easily shop at home due to the spread of the Internet?

The shock of "non-selling stores" that overturns conventional wisdom seems to give the retail industry new hints for the next growth.

Reporter of the Ministry of Economic Affairs

Satomi Mogi

Saitama Broadcasting Station

After working at Morioka Broadcasting Station, he has been

in charge of the distribution industry

such as department stores and convenience stores

for

four years.