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wangfu central is accelerating its adjustments. on september 19, a beijing business daily reporter interviewed the relevant person in charge of wangfu central and learned that after six years of operation, wangfu central has completed adjustments to the basement and main stores, and will next focus on upgrading the west building catering brand. today, wangfu central has strengthened its jewelry and watch categories, and other high-end businesses in beijing are also looking for personalized labels in internal adjustments, forming differentiated development with each other. indeed, with the changes in consumption trends, a single high-end specialty store is no longer suitable for the needs of market development. high-end commercial projects need to seek differentiated development directions and enhance the core competitiveness of the project through a diversified brand matrix.

start brand adjustment

after the lease of shanhe wanduo expired, wf central accelerated the adjustment of the commercial business in the west building. during the visit, beijing business daily reporters saw that catering brands such as the first store of jiushiye in beijing, the first qingqing·thai cuisine in beijing, and xiting·xiuse turkish restaurant were in the process of interior decoration. according to relevant persons in charge of wf central, the above restaurants will open in the second half of this year, and wf central will gradually start the adjustment of the layout of high-end catering brands in the west building.

not long ago, wangfu central welcomed the opening of van cleef & arpels boutique, iwc boutique, and jaeger-lecoultre global flagship store, and the proportion of high-end jewelry and watches in wangfu central is increasing. beijing business daily reporter learned that the new stores of watch brands panerai and graff on the first floor of wangfu central will also open in the second half of this year.

according to incomplete statistics, as of now, wangfu central has introduced 23 high-end jewelry and watch brands, including audemars piguet's only boutique in north china, bvlgari, cartier, chaumet, rolex, and vacheron constantin.

regarding the adjustment to strengthen high-end catering and jewelry and watch business, the above-mentioned person in charge told the beijing business daily reporter that there are currently no commercial projects in beijing's high-end shopping malls that focus on high-end catering and jewelry and watch business. wangfu central can rely on the flagship stores of the above-mentioned high-end brands to highlight the differences of the project and thus form a staggered development.

forming differentiated features

compared with the renovation of the b1 floor in 2023, which is more inclined towards the direction of young trends, the renovation of wf central this year focuses more on upgrading the brand tone. according to incomplete statistics, in the first half of this year, wf central has introduced brand stores such as celine, aesop's first store in beijing, rolex, van cleef & arpels boutique, thom browne boutique, and icicle flagship store.

regarding the adjustment of wf central, zhao liming, president of zhongji yuanda (beijing) international investment management co., ltd., said frankly that wf central is located on wangfujing street and is a relatively representative commercial project on wangfujing street with high appeal. in addition to the historical origins of wangfujing street, strengthening the high-end jewelry and watch business will help the project form differentiated characteristics. however, while focusing on the high-end jewelry and watch business, zhao liming further pointed out that wf central should also focus on the role of brand diversion, use the influence of high-end jewelry and watch brands to simultaneously improve the brand level in the venue, form a diversified brand matrix, and use the cultural advantages of wangfujing street to attract foreign customers while radiating local customers.

not only wf central, but also high-end commercial projects in beijing are making adjustments to enhance the core competitiveness of the projects. among them, china world mall has made great efforts in high-end lifestyle, introducing high-end pearl brand mikimoto, the first armani coffee in china, birkenstock and other brands, and lily begonia, crab fairy art garden and other brands in catering; beijing skp pays more attention to brand diversification, expanding the customer coverage by introducing brands of different levels, cooperating with skp-s to carry out dual-hall linkage, and introducing sports brands such as angpao to enrich the brand matrix; sanlitun taikoo li north district will also introduce stand-alone stores of tiffany, lv louis vuitton and dior dior, with obvious labels of first store and flagship store.

strengthen your own label

in july this year, boston consulting group bcg and tencent marketing insights (tmi) released the "2024 china luxury market insight report", pointing out that as china's outbound tourism market accelerates its recovery, 52% of luxury consumers have gone abroad to buy luxury goods in the first half of this year. by destination, 57% of them have been to hong kong, macao and taiwan, 32% have been to japan and south korea, and 29% have been to southeast asia. overseas markets have taken over part of china's luxury consumption. at the same time, more consumer groups have significantly increased their interest in quality lifestyles, and brands represented by high-end sports and outdoor products are popular in the market, and cross-category competition with the luxury industry has intensified.

in this regard, zhao liming bluntly stated that with the changes in current consumption trends, operating only a single high-end specialty store is no longer suitable for the current needs of business development. high-end commercial projects need to rely on the influence and appeal of luxury brands to attract consumers to visit, while also needing to find differentiated project positioning and strengthen competitive advantages through the reasonable allocation of other types of brands.

yang qingsong, secretary general of china department store association, expressed the same view. in yang qingsong's view, there are more and more high-end commercial projects. if they want to stand out, on the one hand, the projects must establish their own advantages. even if they are niche development directions, in a city of beijing's size, their characteristics are recognized by consumers and are sufficient to support the development of the projects. on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the quality of services. it may be difficult to increase consumption power from the products themselves, but there is a lot of room for improvement from the perspective of improving service quality. "it can be said that considerate and thoughtful member services are the key to improving sales performance."

beijing business daily reporter wang siqi

image source: provided by the company