Recently, an old shopping mall at the doorstep has closed down. I feel that many physical stores are not as popular as before. There are also some bad voices on the Internet, thinking that physical stores are out of date. Does physical stores still have a future?

——People's Daily Netizen 138****2

Under the impact of e-commerce, some people say that "physical stores are no longer possible."

Is it OK? Let’s first tent store-

"Heshenghui has opened 5 new stores" and "Collection of delicious and fun treasure shops". Following Xiaohongshu's sharing, we came to Heshenghui Shopping Mall in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Several first stores have been opened and crowds are surging at the door. During the Spring Festival holiday, Heshenghui's sales increased by nearly 15% year-on-year.

Pangdonglai, Xuchang, Henan, a company has brought a city to its popularity and is called "a '6A-level scenic spot without off-season'" by netizens. In 2024, Pangdonglai Trading Group had 13 stores with sales of 16.964 billion yuan.

As he left the market sadly, he was in a prosperous state. What is the reason? The answer is that consumer demand has changed.

The digital economy is booming, subverting the logic of the business market. E-commerce platforms optimize supply chain efficiency based on big data, gather massive products at lower costs, cover a wide range of customer groups, place orders online and deliver goods to the door, saving consumers worry, labor and money. Data shows that the online shopping usage rate of netizens aged 60 and above nationwide has reached nearly 70%, and the express delivery business volume in 2024 exceeded 170 billion pieces.

National online shopping, where is the future of physical stores?

To answer this question, we must first clarify the evolution of the times of the three elements of "people, goods, and places". In the era of ticket economy, there was a shortage of goods and it was difficult for people to effectively meet their needs. "Buy whatever the mall has" and "give as much as you give". Physical stores only need to handle the binary relationship between "goods" and "place". At the beginning of reform and opening up, the news of "restoring breakfast shops" became a hot news in many newspapers. Nowadays, the market economy is prosperous and the supply of goods is rich. The subjectivity of the element of "people" is highlighted. "I have the final say on what I want to buy." Consumer demand is both diverse and dynamic, and the connotation and extension of "goods" and "places" are constantly expanding and extending.

Today's consumers see "goods" not only material consumption, but also cultural and other service consumption. The "place" they need is not only where the goods are purchased, but also one-stop scenes for food, drink, entertainment, and sports shopping, such as physical experience, social leisure, parent-child interaction.

It is obvious that the future of physical stores is in "people". Only by recruiting people with special characteristics, attracting services, and retaining quality, can "business opportunities become prosperous" only when "popularity gathers".

Faced with "online shopping instead of supermarkets" and "express delivery instead of wholesale", the keen pioneers have broken the deadlock and "only shopping but not buying", people-oriented innovation scenarios and business formats, and accurately segment people. Aiming at the "old and young", the silver-haired economy and infant economy are in a blue ocean; keep a close eye on the "new wave" of Generation Z, and the animation-derived and trendy toy economy are coming out in a cool place.

Online shopping and entities are not opposites between the rise and fall of the other, but are interconnected, interconnected and complementary. You don’t have it, you have it, I have it, I have it, I have it, and I have it. Online convenience and offline excellent services are provided, and to meet consumer needs as the center, and explore differentiated development, so as to gain a broader space for growth. In 2024, traditional supermarket formats continued to optimize their operating methods and content, and retail sales increased by 2.7% year-on-year.

The same truth: people are the subject of development and the purpose of development. Innovation and change are the path, and people-oriented is the confidence.

On February 15, Century Jinyuan Shopping Center, the largest shopping and leisure complex in Beijing, announced that it will launch a transformation to plan cultural and social activities for meeting friends with coffee, music and sports to build a colorful cultural exchange field. This news is touching. In 2004, Century Goldyuan, which just opened, was hailed as Asia's largest single commercial project and attracted the attention of countless consumers.

Today, more than 20 years later, "whether there is a future for physical stores" has become a topic, reflecting the economic development and the progress of the times. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments introduced relevant measures to accelerate the transformation of "one store, one policy" and the innovation and transformation of the retail industry. In the midst of "change" and "unchange", more physical stores will be reborn and reborn from the ashes.

The Chinese people emphasize "harmony and symbiosis". No matter how far the digital economy and artificial intelligence develop, they will not and cannot block interpersonal communication. Retail industry is a business around the people, which not only requires convenience, but also requires humanized "temperature".

"Key-to-key" will not replace "face-to-face", which is the basis for survival of physical stores. Digital and entities are mutually stimulating and empowering each other, which will create a better, diverse and richer scene experience.

The future of physical stores is still worth looking forward to.