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produced by "new vision" by phoenix technology

author/zuo fei

editor/liu yukun

at the end of june last year, oppo opened its first flagship store in the country in guangzhou zhengjia plaza. this flagship store has a total area of ​​more than 660 square meters and was the largest single mobile phone flagship store in guangzhou at the time.

oppo emphasized at the time that they wanted to give users a shopping experience that was different from traditional stores, and placed more emphasis on providing interactive user services. this store is not just a place to sell products, but an urban space that combines leisure and shopping.

in the past year, oppo guangzhou zhengjia flagship store has enjoyed booming sales, with average monthly sales exceeding 4.5 million yuan. liu bo, president of oppo china, said that they will also carry out "same style" renovations for 20 to 30 stores in first-tier and provincial capital cities across the country.

in the following year, oppo's store renovation plan did not seem to be "big and fast". until september 26, oppo announced the opening of a new, larger flagship store in guiyang. this flagship store not only has a larger space and is decorated with local cultural characteristics, but it is also the first game-themed flagship store in the country.

liu bo gave an updated definition to this flagship store, calling it a "city park for young people." in their words, they hope that young people will come to the store not only to shop, but also to have fun. they hope to give young people an interactive service-based shopping experience that is different from traditional mobile phone stores.to put it more simply, they want oppo’s flagship store to become a check-in point where young people gather.

there is a coffee shop in one corner of the store and a specially opened little o school where visitors can sit on the floor and watch the live broadcast of the game on the big screen. there are also game prizes and companions. can these attract young people?

01. offline model changes

in the past ten years, oppo has been the most active among domestic mobile phone brands in building offline channels.

unlike mobile phone brands such as xiaomi and huawei, which have only begun to develop offline channels in recent years, oppo has deployed offline channels as early as its establishment. today, its sales network spreads across the country, and even goes deep into counties, towns, and towns across the country. more than 150,000 sales outlets.however, under the impact of e-commerce channels, these traditional offline stores faced the problem of poor efficiency and failed to attract the attention of young people.

the president of oppo china also mentioned in a group interview with the media that the mobile phone industry used to be prosperous and there were mobile phone streets everywhere, from various stores, flagship stores and even operator stores, but the situation has changed now. the time for users to obtain information has become fragmented. they learn more through online platforms such as xiaohongshu, douyin, and weibo, rather than through offline activities such as leaflets as in the past.

liu bo said that retail and channel needs to change with changes in users.he believes that the future trend is the integration of online and offline, and offline experience stores need to provide a different user experience from online shopping.

last year, oppo opened a new-image flagship store in guangzhou zhengjia plaza, marking its bold attempt in the retail field. this guangzhou flagship store pays more attention to the interactive experience with users. for example, they have specially planned multiple areas for imaging, learning, games, etc. in the store, and regularly hold various offline activities to attract the active participation of young groups.

this is a new sales model that is different from the traditional stores that focused on selling goods in the past. they hope to provide a comprehensive experience that combines shopping and leisure.li jie, vice president of oppo china, said that the opening of the grandview flagship store is an important starting point for the reform of oppo’s retail model.

the reform is indeed effective. according to li jie, this mobile phone flagship store, the largest single area in guangzhou, has average monthly sales of more than 4.5 million, and its sales in a year can be called the "half-a-billion club."

however, in the next step of oppo's retail model reform, they did not choose to open a second flagship store in super first-tier cities such as beijing, shanghai, guangzhou and shenzhen, but instead set their sights on guiyang in the southwest. compared with beijing, shanghai, guangzhou and shenzhen, guiyang has a population of only 6.4 million, and its gdp last year was only 1/6 of guangzhou. guiyang is not the most vocal among the provincial capitals in the country.

liu bo explained that during the initial planning, oppo considered some intended cities, and guiyang was one of them.during the research process, they found that guiyang has distinctive characteristics that are different from other cities. first, there are many young people in guiyang; second, the happiness index of guiyang residents is relatively high.

these characteristics are consistent with the young people oppo hopes to attract. wang jiping, vice president of idc china, said that although genz is generally believed to be mainly in first- to fourth-tier cities in the traditional concept, in fact, young people in both sixth-tier cities and even small towns have a huge genz generation. the consumer group of the recently popular game "black myth: wukong" is not limited to high-tier cities.

in order to be more in line with the preferences of young people, oppo has set the theme of its guiyang flagship store to games.on the occasion of the opening, they will invite weixiao, the "league of legends" world champion and former star player of team we, to the venue to interact with fans. according to the plan, they will also hold various gaming activities in the flagship store in the future.

it's not easy. traditional offline stores pay attention to efficiency, and the area-per-square-foot ratio is the core indicator for measuring the quality of a store. but in oppo's vision, their stores are actually closer to an offline cultural space - users come to the store not just to shop, but also to enjoy interactive and entertainment experiences.

this requires stores to have stronger long-term operations and event planning capabilities. among the digital brands currently in the market, only apple store has always insisted on holding user exchange activities offline. for oppo, this is a brand new beginning.

liu bo introduced that they also plan to build more new flagship stores in super first-tier, first-tier and provincial capital cities across the country. their third store is planned to open in wuhan by the end of the year.

oppo's guangzhou flagship store and guiyang flagship store were opened more than a year apart, so there is no rush. li jie, vice president of oppo china, said that many flagship store locations are hard to come by, and they hope that the flagship stores in each city will have local characteristics. oppo’s plan is to cover all levels of cities with flagship stores. at present, some core cities are planned in the early stage, and in the future, it will slowly develop from the core circle to all tier cities.

02. focus on core business

china’s smartphone market picked up in the first half of this year. according to data released by third-party research organization counterpoint, china's smartphone sales increased by 4% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and full-year sales are expected to rebound to more than 270 million units.

especially in the high-end market.more consumers are beginning to recognize the strength of domestic flagships. apple's sales in the first half of the year fell by 13% year-on-year, and it had to carry out large-scale promotions.

and compared with last year, oppo's sales also have room for improvement. idc's previously released china quarterly mobile phone market tracking report for the second quarter of 2024 showed that oppo occupied 15.7% of the domestic smartphone market in the quarter, ranking third.

faced with this challenge, oppo set its ai strategy at the beginning of this year and announced that it has officially entered the era of ai mobile phones. oppo ceo chen mingyong set the tone at the beginning of the year that ai mobile phones will be the third major stage of change in the mobile phone industry after feature phones and smartphones, and there is no upper limit on their investment in ai. on the oppo find x7 released at the beginning of the year, oppo added functions such as ai recording summary and ai picture removal, calling it the first ai phone.

during the media group interview session at the opening of the oppo guiyang flagship store, the media paid special attention to whether ai has become a core indicator to attract users to purchase phones. liu bo, president of oppo china, said that currently among consumers’ decision-making factors for purchasing mobile phones, ai’s ranking has not risen so quickly.

he explained, “this track will take some time.” however, they have seen users welcome the newly added ai functions and use them very frequently. he believes that the changes brought about by ai will subtly affect consumers.

liu bo said that they do not blindly pursue the first place in the market. they insist on returning to user insights and truly grasping consumer needs.under the guidance of this strategy, they have done a lot of technical research in the past that seemed somewhat thankless. for example, they have achieved ultra-narrow bezels on the new find x product that will be released next month. currently, only apple and oppo in the world can achieve this.

they didn't stop building cars either.according to liu bo, he believes that oppo’s strategy emphasizes focus. they clearly do not build cars and believe that it is more important to do a good job in ecology.

in fact, oppo was the first mobile phone manufacturer to launch in-depth cooperation with car companies. they began cooperating with car companies as early as 2019. at present, there are more than 168 manufacturers cooperating with oppo zhixing, and they expect that oppo zhixing solutions will be implemented in more than 40 million vehicles within the year.

"we must make good products and give users a good experience." liu bo said in a group interview with the media.