Skip to content 
During the Double Eleven Shopping Festival, the e-commerce wars have come to an end. Many netizens stayed at home, curled up in bed, holding their phones, tickling their fingertips, happily stocking up. Some netizens have posted photos of their trophies, saying that they were so tired of receiving the couriers that their legs were tired from running. Nanjing’s physical shopping malls are not to be outdone, with roadside neon advertising billboards everywhere, shocking the eyes, but e-commerce is far ahead with its price advantage and convenience, especially its ability to take the civilian route, which has won the love of the vast audience.
Nowadays, shopping in a mall seems a bit extravagant, the price is extravagant, the time is extravagant, the transportation is extravagant, everything is becoming more and more extravagant. Do you remember the last time you went shopping in a mall?
In the childhood of many people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, they would be excited for several days when they heard “Let’s go, Mom will take you to the mall!”; decades ago, if you came to Nanjing for tourism or business trips and didn’t visit the Central, Dayang, Xinbai and other malls, and didn’t buy a few clothes and bags, you would feel that you had come to Nanjing in vain; on weekends, you would go with your besties to go to the mall, shop, eat, chat, and be happy and chat. This is the real life. Many old malls in Nanjing carry the memories of everyone’s youth and childhood. Some of them have been rejuvenated through various efforts, while others failed to survive the cold winter and gradually disappeared.
In the fierce market competition, some shopping malls choose to deepen their traditional features, while others choose to embrace the trend of the times. For example, the Central Shopping Mall renovated a large glass curtain wall on one side of its exterior wall, while retaining the retro and old door head on the other side, perfectly showing the embrace of the past and the future.
Embrace the past and play the card of inheritance. Some old shopping malls have opened nostalgic snack shops to tell the memories of old Nanjing. Taiping Food Supermarket and Evergreen Brand Store in Taiping Shopping Mall use some nostalgic childhood flavors such as sesame sticks and osmanthus crisp candy to attract children’s attention and win the favor of middle-aged and elderly residents. They often buy them to play with their grandchildren and tell their children and grandchildren about the snacks they loved to eat when they were young. As domestic products have become more prominent again, the popularity of domestic brands has attracted the attention of a group of young people, and they have begun to turn to the choices of their parents. The mall retains the external columns and signs with a sense of age, welcoming the frequent check-ins of old customers and starting to recall the past. Here, what you shop for is feelings, what you buy is emotions, and what you think of is youth. The signs covered with rust and the counter decorations full of age are all witnesses of time. The traces of time touch the soft string deep in the heart, and everyone puts down the hard shell without warning and pays for a good mood.
Facing the future, we should play the card of innovation. Some old shopping malls are aligned with new shopping malls, adapting to market changes, and integrating modern and traditional culture for transformation and upgrading. In response to the impact of e-commerce, physical businesses have changed their investment concepts, focusing on the first store economy, paying attention to the youth market, and creating more attractive scenes and content with art, interests, trends, and technology. Release various “friendliness”. Shuiyou City, Shuipingfang, and Dongfang Fred have introduced various trendy stores; Longhu Hexi Tianjie, Central Mall Hexi Store, etc. have attracted fans to come to support and punch in through indoor large-screen projection, offline meetings, and celebrity-related pop-up stores. Gather various “trends”. Ai Shang Tiandi, Mixc Tiandi, etc. have introduced fashion brands to provide young people with various dressing inspirations; NOWS Xinzuo has built a fusion space between consumption and art exhibitions, becoming a gathering place for new youth cultural energy; Maoye Tiandi, Wanda Mao, etc. have introduced trendy sports blocks to provide workers with a space to release pressure and experience excitement. Integrate various “cultures”. Wuyue Plaza in Jianye has restored the Qinhuai Water Street to allow consumers to experience the ancient Qinhuai River indoors, and the Deji Plaza Art Museum shows consumers the collision of humanities, art and modern style.
Photo by Fang Fei
The e-commerce “price war” has receded, and online celebrities have repeatedly failed to bring goods. Consumers are more willing to go one meter deeper into the “alley” for “fragrant wine”. If physical businesses want to survive in the fierce competition, the core lies in people – attention and respect for people. Today, when consumers have high demands for “experience”, “sincerity” and “quality”, perhaps a highly immersive “paradise-like” commercial center that combines travel and shopping, extreme service, and a high quality-price ratio brand image can make more people willing to pay for the scene and pay for the emotion.
Come on, tell me, which shopping mall in Nanjing can win your heart today?
