Discussion keeps the worldturning.
This isRoundtable. You're listening toRoundtable.
I'm your honing joined by Josh and LeeYi.
Coming up on the second half of theshow, Self-Service Women's ClothingStores, a new concept and 20 practice have quietly conquered manyconsumers'heart.
These places are advertised as being able to provide you with a shopping experience that is care-free andfashionable.
But is this just a marketinggimmick?
Or is there a genuine need behind thisshift?
Today, we'll examine the fabric of self-service fashion to unravel the threads of necessity versusnovelty.
And asalways, we invite you to our happyplace.
Roundtable would be incomplete without yourlove, support andinput.
Whether you have thoughts on a particulartopic, feedback about the show or a question you want us toanswer, please don't hesitate to send an email to roundtablechina atFoxMail.com.
Andremember, a voice metal is alwaysbetter.
Now, onRoundtable, nojudgment, nopressure, justyou, yourstyle, and maybe a selfie ortwo.
Welcome to the new wave ofshopping.
Self-Service Women's ClothingStores, where you are greeted not by eagersalespeople, but by racks of 20 clothes and your ownspace.
So, LiYi, tell me how exactly do these new types of storeswork?
What do they look like and how come we lovethem?
Well, we do see a lot of this self-service stores here inBeijing,Shanghai, Hongzhou orXiamen.
We're businessoperators.
They just let customers to serve themselves without help or interruption ofsalespeople.
Andusually, the stores try to offer a more casual atmosphere and moreimportantly, the apparel they offer are usually moreaffordable.
And when you look at the business model or operation model of the self-servicestores, they are usually located in mixed-usebuildings, which means buildings that can be either used as apartments or doing business in centralareas.
Andusually, for thislocation, the rent is usuallycheaper, so which could also help business operators to reduce theircost.
Yet, because they don't already have shopfronts, it can be quite challenging for them to attract customers fromstreets.
So, they just use social media platforms to attract potentialcustomers, as much aspossible.
Forexample, XiaoHongshu, one of the main-ger live-sharing social media platforms here inChina, is a major social platform where they try to pitch as many customers aspossible.
And they are basically targeting young Chinesecustomers.
And most of these self-service stores offer affordable clothes with a price ranging from 100 yuan to 300yuan.
And they just emphasize that you can enjoy your self-service purchasingexperience, meaning that you can simply browse clothes or items for as long as youwant.
And you can have really casual feeding without any self-person to give you recommendation or advice or judgment aroundyou.
And the price is quitetransparent.
And ofcourse, you are free to take as much selfie as youwant.
So, which is quite attractive for a lot of customers outthere.
So, it's becoming really a trend here inChina.
And people are also discussing what kind of service is proper for this kind of a pair of stores aswell.
I know both of you can besubjective,balanced, and fair when it comes to discussing a certaintopic.
But I want you to be you for thistopic.
So, in order for our listeners to know who youare, I prepared a little flash questionsegment.
These questions are super easy and they are about your own shopping habit and shoppingpreferences.
And I need you to answer themreally, really fast both ofyou.
So, just at the top of your tongue and you can just answer thequestions.
Firstquestion, how often do you shop forclothes?
See, it's a very important question because you donot, if you do not shop forclothes, you do not get to talk about thistopic.
That's a really awkward question because I have really been shopped for aweek.
I onlyshop. Ohreally? I think I only shop when I need someclothes.
Say beforevacation, beforeholiday, then I will just buy a fewitems.
But just in dailycommuting, workinglife, I don't really have a very specific shopping frequency in terms of a pairof.
See, this is a perfect example of how LeeE.
Compromising, the concept of aflash.
Q&Asession. I'll askJosh.
How often do you shop forclothes?
Once every twomonths.Wow.
Okay, that's a good answeractually.
Alright?Okay, question numbertwo.
Do you have a plan or do you often browse and just pay for the clothes that you have an eyeon?
No, I don't have aplan. I simply browse whatever Ineed.
Josh? I have a reasonableplan.
Yeah.Yeah, every one or twomonths, I bet you have aplan.
Okay, question numberthree.
How much research do you particularly do before making apurchase?
I don't make researchactually.
Great.Josh. A littlebit.
I will look at theapparel.
I will know what they'vegot.
I go to the samestore.Okay.
Nextquestion. Do you prefer shopping online or in-store and how often do you visit brick and mortar clothingstores?
I prefer shopping online and I seldom visit brick and mortarstores.
Josh has astore.Yeah, I prefer shopping online but I have to go to the store because nothing online fitsme.
Alright. The last questionis, do assistant bother you if they're too attentive or enthusiastic in trying to sell you the clothes of theseason?
Yes.Yes.Yes.Josh?Yes.
severeanxiety.Wow. Then I do not think I need to ask whether or not you identify yourself as introvert orextrovert.
I do not have to ask that question anymore because I think the key or the heart of the discussion actually lies inthat.
That is the reason that a lot of people are favoring these kind of self-helping clothing stores is because they do not like the interaction with humanbeing, which is a little bit weird when I say it out loud yet I understand theconcept.
That is if someone is trying to persuade you to dosomething, some find it too hard to sayno.
If someone is too attentive and giving you all theservice, you feel a little bit awkward and you find that I donot.
Well, I kind of can enjoy your service but who am I to be serviced in thisway?
So there are a lot of different types ofemotions, different types of anxieties that nowadays consumershave.
And at the end of theday, what their solution is that no service is better than the kind of service that I do notlike.
That actually in a way promoted the creation of thosestores.
And especially when we talk about a pair ofstores, I think sometimes no service is better than bad service because mepersonally, I do have this a few occasionalexperience, shoppingexperience, which are not so pleasant because of the salesperson out there in thestores.
And especially in a peril and accessoryindustry, youknow, if you are a youngperson, a college student and who don't really dress up and yet go to those certain luxurystores, you would just have this sort of experience that being neglected by salespeople outthere.
Andyet, youknow, usually you can also be the potentialcustomers, somehow the bad attitude of those salesperson just somehow push youaway.
Yet I don't really think that's the intention of thosebrands.
I think they are trying to attract as many customers aspossible.
However, youknow, it is because of the wrong behavior of thoseindividuals, salespeople that can somehow post this wrongful effect oncustomers' shoppingbehavior.
So that's why in thiscase, I would say it's just better for offering no service to simply offer customers ease so that they can just make purchase choices as free aspossible.
Remember, that's from someone who seldom visits brick and mortar stores and who basically lost all of her hope in thoseservices.
But let's ask someone who hasa, let's say has a store and havemaybe, I don'tknow,Josh, do you have your favoritesalesperson, perse?
And do you think the reason thatthe, there has been this popularity of the self service or self helping clothing stores is because stores are not providing the kind of services that customers actuallyneed?
Imean, I just think that it's the elephant in the room that most people find that kind of customer service very a bit uncomfortable and that most of us just want to browse inpeace.
Imean, there must be someone out there that really loves this kind of attention in thestore.
I always thought that it was because I'm from the UK and it was just a bit of a culture clashbecause, youknow, in the UK where we're much more timid really in these kind ofsituations.
We don't really like to speak to each other and so we might say goodmorning, but that's aboutit.
But you talk aboutweather.
Yeah.Yeah. Imean, that's something differentreally.
We talk about the weather because we feelawkward.
That's what I was talkingabout.
Butanyway,yeah, so I guess that maybe it's not that maybe a lot of people do find it slightly uncomfortable because you want to find something that's the right fit for you and sometimes it takes a really longtime.
Andyeah, now you just have as much time as you wantto,right, without the added pressure of keeping somebody waiting or something like that and I'm telling you all that will look really good on you when you know that it doesn't look good onyou.
They're just trying to sell yousomething.
I think we're all getting more savvy to this or am I just tooskeptical?
Well, another thing that makes me a bit surprising about these doors is that because there are actually little differences among thesedoors.
People operate themdifferently.
Some would at least provide one shop owner or assistant at theentrance.
So if you have any questions orcreate, you can ask them if you do not have the size ofyours, but you like thepattern, you like that specificshirt, you can ask forhelp.
But some would even allow you to get into their store without guarding the store atall.
There would be no one in thestore, only yourself and maybe severalcameras.
And all you need to do is try on the clothes you like and decide whether or not you want it and then pay for it by scanning on acold.
And if you want to stealsomething, I can hardly imagine anyone come in time to stopyou.
So the level of trust in the society sometimes makes me want tosay,well, aswell.
Well, I think it's just a similar situation when you find a lot of 24 hour self-service convenience stores in a lot of cities here inChina.
It's because we have this sort of trust toward eachother, both from the business side to the customer and also from the customer to the businessside.
And I think we do see an increasing level of self-discipline from the generalpublic, which is a very important precondition when you see the prosperity or the trend of the self-servicestores, either in retail or now in the apparabusinesses.
And I think especially when you talk aboutservices, people do have a different perception of what is a good service rightnow.
Because before we want the customer service staff to be always smiling and you to always be responsible forthat.
I still wantthat.Oh,oh,oh,okay.
Or ignoreme. If you're looking atme, then smile atme.
I think there are different needs coming from thecustomers.
And ingeneral, before we observe those service in those traditionalstores, people somehow expect that the staff always offer whatever they can offer to thecustomer.
And sometimes it's beyond what customers askfor.
And the very typical example would be service offered by a famous hot spa retail brand here inChina.
And they are famous for providingvery, very responsive and careful and thoughtful service tocustomers.
Somehow, I think now people care more about the product theyoffer.
Imean, what's the quality of the product and how's the food offered on the table rather than the service or rather than how the big smile on the face of those customers servicestaff.
I think that's also a changing customer purchasing behavior that helped to foster this sort of self-service stores here inChina.
That is also a very interestingpoint.
And if you take a look at examples of thesestores, actually the shop owner of these clothing stores are quite have quite good fashiontaste.
They get to find the right clothing and the kind of clothing that is at least a worthy that is at least a parable with the price tag onit.
Some of them might not be that expensive or highquality.
But it definitely has a certain little design that you canappreciate.
That is why for those who value theproducts, actually these stores can be really good choices aswell.
And I was a little bit curious to see that only self-help women's storeexist.
So from a men'sperspective,Chash, do you care whether or not a shop is withservice, is with salesperson who are actually talking toyou?
Do you think it's a factor that you would consider when you're choosingstores?
Yeah,definitely. If there's no salesperson in thestore, I'd probably gothere.
So I think that I would definitely consider it as afactor.
Imean, I feel a bit harsh saying that because I don't want to put anybody out of thejob.
But I used to work in a clothingstore, by theway, for a fewyears.
It was my first proper job in a big clothingstore.
And there is a lot of work in a big clothingstore, especially if they have a lot of flow of newclothes.
And the interactions with the customers were probably the best part of thejob.
The rest of it wasreally, reallymonotonous.
But for mepersonally, as ashopper,yes, it would make a bigdifference.
Okay, so first ofall, all of you who owns a man's clothing store outthere, think aboutChash, think about the potential marketcustomers, you can start a self-serving orself-helping, man's clothing store aswell.
Maybe there are a bunch of potentialcustomers.
Andsecondly, you mentioned something quite interesting because thinking about the idea ofself-helping, actually it's not thatnew.
But just thinking about some new big brandstores, big brand clothingstores, actually they have been practicing this self-serving idea for a quite longtime, isn'tit?
Yeah, actually a very famous Japanese apparelbrand,Unicle, is actually known for offering this sort of half-salt service business model here inChina, and also in a lot of countries and in the stores of thisbrand.
Ascustomers, you are as free as possible to select and try the clothes you are interestedin, and the staff is only there when you are in need ofthem.
I think that's a very perfect business model for introvertpeople.
Then, I think when it comes to women's self-servicestore, where men's self-servicestore, I don't really think it's just a very simple classification between men andwomen.
Yet, I think between extrovert people and introvertpeople, maybe there's a clear classification because the example I could think of is me as awoman, I don't really enjoy the service outthere.
Myhusband, who is a super extrovertperson, he always tries to find someone to talk to whenever he goes either in stores or in thestreets.
He's just so eager to talk to people and connect topeople, which I don't really quiteunderstand.
So I think there are some different customers outthere, either men orwomen.
It just depends on how businesses try to cater to different needs ofcustomers, and it's really important to know who are your targetaudience, who are your targetcustomers, and try to offer the services that can cater to differentneeds, would be a very smartchoice.
Different consumers have differentpreferences, and no matter whether or not we're talking aboutself-service, or taking as many selfies as youwant, or do not have the need to interact with shopassistants.
Actually, the key here is that all of this niche or specific needs of consumers are being met in differentways, and that is always a good thing forshoppers.
You're listening to Roundtable coming up next Roundtable's HappyPlace, the segment where we explore thejoys, theescapes, and the little things that make a big difference in our everydaylives.
So grab a comfortingbeverage, settlein, and let's embark on this uplifting journeytogether.
Delivery,delivery,delivery.
What isit? Happiness fromRoundtable.
It's the hour of Roundtable withmyself, NeilHolen,Josh, and LeeYee.
SoJosh, what is your Happy Place thisweek?
Recently, I've finished a book that is a book in a series of different books by ThomasErickson, and Thomas Erickson has written several books about being surrounded by different kinds ofpeople, and about how to basically save yoursanity.
The book that I just read is called Surrounded byNarcissists, and without going too deep into the meaning of narcissism or anything likethis, it's basically somebody that could quite easily make your lifedifficult.
Hewrote, he's written other books called Surrounded bypsychopaths,idiots, and energy suckingvampires, or something likethis.
He's probably about how not to lose your mind in certainsituations, how to recognize these kind ofbehaviors, and also he makes arguments about how our societies quite scarily may be somehow have given rise to this kind ofbehavior, maybe even promote this kind ofbehavior, which is maybe why he's got another book called Surrounded by HorribleBosses, but might be a reason to explain why sometimes those kind of personalities end up rising to thetop.
Anyway, it's a greatbook, and it's really quiteeye-opening, and it gives you some real-life skills to understand maybe why people behave in differentways.
Forme, it's been reallynice, because I am quite a deepthinker, I think an overthinker maybe I shouldsay, and I think I sometimes over-analys and worry about situations when maybe sometimes the best thing to do in life is to just walkaway,actually, or distance yourself from certain things or certainpeople, not alwayspossible, depending on the person you're dealingwith,anyway.
So,great, fantasticbook, although it sounds a bitserious, I've actually really enjoyedit, so that's my happy place for thisweek.
Wow, then I am asking on behalf of ourlisteners, would you say the name and the author of the book oncemore, so if anybody want to check itout, they would know what to lookfor.
Sure, so the author's called ThomasErickson,E-R-I-K-S-O-N, and the book is called Surrounded byNarcissist, there are a series ofbooks.
Surrounded byseries.Yes,yes.
Great, how about youLee?
I also want to recommend abook,actually.
Yeah, it's reallyinteresting, in myopinion, and the name of the bookis, we are what weeat, a slow-foodmanifesto, it's written by AliceWaters, who is an American chef and a foodactivist, and the book really tells how our food choices impact our society and even the wholeplanet.
Andparticularly, the author advocates for a return to a more intentional and sustainable approach toeating, called in her way as the slow-foodmovement.
And a very inspiring takeaway from this book is that the author arguesthat, infact, agriculture is something that is supposed to be slow and seasonal andnatural.
However, when you look at moderncustomers'needs, usually we embrace these fast-foodvalues, meaning that we think thateverything, everyfood, should be available all thetime, and usually more isbetter.
Imean, the biggerpack, thebetter, and usually we care speed alot.
We think speed isparamount, the faster thebetter, and we think that the choices of food are free ofconsequences.
However, the author argues that the rise of this fast-food culture and the demand for immediate food gratification can have significant impacts on local agriculture inbusinesses, and the convenience of thespeed, offered by fastfood, often come at expense of traditional locally sourced ingredients and small-scaleproducers.
And one of the most noticeable effects is the decline in support for local agriculture and small-scalefarmers.
Because fast food chains usually can prioritize standardized mass-produced ingredients that can be sourced from large-scale industrialfarms, and these can really lead to the displacement of small farmers who are unable to compete with the prices and volume demands of corporatesuppliers.
So as aresult, we can't really have this very diversified choices coming from local small-scale farms nearby ourresidents, which is a pity for all foodies outthere.
So in thebook, I think the author urges to take up the mantle of slow foodculture, basically meaning that we try to embrace the quality of ingredients and the craftsmanship involved in foodproduction.
We try to embrace uniqueflavors,textures, and aromas of locally sourced seasonalfood, and also to eat for environmentally sustainable farming practices that can really promotebiodiversity, soilhealth, and ecosystemresilience, and try to build these connections between foodproducers,consumers, and localcommunities.
I think this is really inspiring because before I never think of how the way we choose food and how the way we eat food can have a huge impact for the whole agriculture and even for retail or advertisement businesses outthere.
It is because we try to embrace speed all the time that can somehow in the end hurt not only localfarmers, but alsoourselves.
So I think this book is really particularly inspiring for people out there who are interested in how do weeat,impact, and webelieve.
So I just want to recommend thisbook.
We are what we eat written by AliceWaters.
We are what we eat fromLee.
Actually, I've heard this theory that now we're talking about the protection ofenvironment.
We talk about climate change and a lot of focus goes on to the carbonemission, goes on to the manufacturingindustry.
Yet some people argue that the way weeat, the way we choose ourfood, the way we conduct agriculture is also a very importantfactor.
And in order to have a greenenvironment, we also have to have a greenlifestyle.
And I think the choosing of food belongs to that category aswell.
Soyes,again, we are what weeat.
Lee is happy place for thisweek.
As forme, I also do have a happyplace.
It's not that cultured or that educated perse.
It's actually something that I did for the pastweek.
I took my one and a half year old son back to my parentscity, which is myhometown.
And we visited this park called theInseopark.
This is the place where I had my date with my thenboyfriend, nowhusband.
This is the park where I grewup.
And I recited a lot of passages from textbooks in thepark.
And this is now the park that I have took my son to have a walkin.
And the park actually was open to public in1957.
And it covers over 60shectares, including itspark.
And it has gone through several rounds ofrenovations.
It has historical building init, introducing the merchant's history of Shenzhiprovince.
Because Jingshang was actually a very important part of the merchant's history in Chinesehistory.
They have their own style and they have their own fighting and struggling and developingstories.
And all that history can be found in that little museum within thatpark.
And I found that it's actually quite impressive to see how surroundings around you evolve and how you little by little inter great your life with thesesurroundings.
And apparently now I have a park that has a lot to do with my own lifestories.
And I believe all of you listening would have a little bit something in your city or in your hometown that has that trade aswell.
All you need to do is to look forit, enjoyit.
Then you would be able to find your very own happyplace.
And that brings us to the end of today's roundtable.
Thanks to Lee and Josh and those of you who are stilllistening.
Until nexttime, keep the conversation going and the ideasflowing.
