Have you noticed that similar shops always like to be piled up together? Sometimes I can't find a convenience store after walking for a long time, but you can see many stores at once on a certain street corner. For example, Lianjia and the offline store where I Love My Home are always next to each other... There are many such cases. Why do merchants get together when they are obviously in a competitive relationship? Wouldn't it be better to open stores in every corner of the city?

Wanda Plaza, Haizhou District, Lianyungang City. Photo by Geng Yuhe (Zhongjing Vision)

Think about it carefully, it is natural for this to happen.

Reducing costs is a major benefit of building stores in clusters. For a store with no clear site selection goal, clustering is a safer choice. An area where a large number of similar goods and services are concentrated can often become a business card for a region. For example, when it comes to Huaxiang in Beijing, many people can think of used cars, and when it comes to Panjiayuan, they can think of glasses cities and antiques. Consumers often travel to the area when looking for specific goods or services. For merchants, opening a store in this area can obtain a relatively stable customer base, which virtually reduces marketing costs. Imagine that if a merchant chooses to open a store outside the "one street", it may have to pay a large amount of advertising fees. This is an important factor affecting the location of merchants.

In fact, consumers are often willing to go to a "street", just like going to the mall when they don't know what to eat, because the mall gathers many restaurants and provides more choices. Even if you have a long line at your favorite restaurant, you can always find an alternative nearby. "One Street" can also provide consumers with a one-stop consumption experience. The Photography Equipment City located in Maliandao, Xicheng District, Beijing City is well known to many photography enthusiasts. Some people come here specially to buy cameras and lenses. But the services provided here go far beyond that. In addition to a variety of models of cameras and lenses, it also provides maintenance and other services, and even professional photography classes, bringing consumers the dual benefits of choice and convenience.

Yuhou Street, Suxian District, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. Photo by Cao Gaolin (Zhongjing Vision)

"It's not that enemies don't gather together." Although the merchants gathered together have competitive relationships with each other, they also hide cooperation. For example, a customer came to Zhongguancun Science and Trade Electronic City and found a merchant to assemble computers. Merchants will first make a configuration list based on customers 'needs, and then assemble it accordingly. If he didn't happen to have a certain type of CPU in his hand at this time, he would immediately go to other owners in the Electronics City to purchase goods. Sharing customers and helping each other is the consensus of everyone. When business comes in, each store is likely to benefit from potential customers from other stores.

From the perspective of urban planning, the "agglomeration effect" helps to form commercial centers and characteristic neighborhoods. Opening similar stores together helps form a healthy competitive environment, encourages merchants to provide better goods and services, and thus improves the overall level of the industry.

It's not a bad thing to have similar shops piled up together. Instead of retreating, it is better to actively embrace competition and challenges and wait for opportunities to seek cooperation. Forging iron also requires oneself to be tough. Only by continuously improving the quality and service level of their own products can merchants do their business better and better in the increasingly fierce market competition.