New retail is just a stage of development and change of retail industry in the process of realizing social informatization and digitalization on the Internet, but in this stage, progress and change have accelerated and concentrated, become faster and more explosive. Of course, the concept of new retail also has its unique logic: the background of the development of new retail is the reduction of industry cost and the growth of efficiency, the core power of which is still economic benefits, and the search and pursuit of market profits by enterprises; the basis of the realization of new retail is the progress of science and technology; the characteristics of new retail can be summarized as digitalization, omni-channel and more flexible supply chain; The development direction of new retail is still changing with the demand of consumers.
1. The main driving force of new retail -- economic benefits
(1) the Internet demographic dividend disappears, and the cost of online customer acquisition rises
In recent years, the growth rate of mobile Internet users has been slowing down year by year, and it is expected to drop to 3.6% in 2017. The total scale of online retail users tends to be stable. The cost of pure online customer development is getting higher and higher, the space of e-commerce is narrowing, and the potential of offline retail is endless. The huge economic benefits drive enterprises to develop new retail.
(2) population stock market needs "experience retail"
The data shows that China's population growth rate dropped from 1.01 ‰ in 1997 to 0.5 ‰ in 2015, and China's market changed from "population increment market" to "population stock market". In the stock market, the effect of attracting more consumers by low price strategy will be worse and worse, and the stickiness and repurchase rate of consumers are more important. At the same time, enterprises need to deeply explore the potential needs of consumers, so as to release the consumption ability. All of these require enterprises to know more about consumers and provide consumers with "better experience". The concept of retail industry changes from "low price retail" to "experience retail". New retail is more experience oriented, and its core motivation is to seek greater market profits.
2. The important foundation of new retail -- new technology
In recent years, with the development of artificial intelligence, Internet of things, big data, virtual reality, blockchain and other emerging technologies, many aspects of retail have also undergone new changes. Various new technologies have been applied to all aspects of retail, laying the foundation for new experience and efficient operation, and helping consumers save time and enhance experience in consumption scenarios. At the same time, new technology helps optimize the operation and management of enterprises, and integrates product marketability analysis, store operation analysis, consumer analysis and precision marketing to generate more valuable data.
New technology has also spawned many new formats, such as smart shopping malls, new format retail stores, general convenience stores, unmanned convenience stores, vending machines and so on.