New opportunities and challenges: Schüco shifts to the 'new retail' approach

Break away from traditional practices and take the "New Retail" approach

Over the past 20 years, China's economy has grown at a fast pace, and so has the country's real estate industry. In this context, large-sized construction projects have emerged one after another in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and Schüco has many successful cases with excellent market feedback. For architects and developers, Schüco provides the premium quality products they need. For consumers, better living conditions are in demand, and that's why many of them have started to renovate their homes. On the other hand, the windows, doors and façades industry ushers in a tipping point, as e-commerce rises to totally change the way people buy things.

The "online + brick and mortar + logistics" combination represents a "New Retail" pattern. Especially today, when outdoor activities are restricted due to the coronavirus, online shopping is even more preferred by people. Fortunately, Schüco has already prepared with the opening of online flagship stores on leading e-commerce platforms in China, such as Tmall.com, JD.com and Suning.com. These stores provide not only conventional services, but also custom design, quick response, controlled installation and reliable after-sales services, Dietze said.

"Schüco will gradually shift its business from traditional large-sized projects to retail projects. The current situation provides Schüco with a good opportunity for this transformation. We will spare no efforts to address end users' needs, both online and offline. And as people born in the 80s and 90s become major buyers of Schüco products, Schüco will meet their specific requirements with customized services," He said.

Towards this end, a good service model can play a key role. Behind Schüco is a group of trustworthy partners who have developed a full understanding of Schüco products over years. To provide end users with the best possible services, Schüco authorizes these partners to deliver and install its products. Distributors authorized and approved by Schüco will strictly follow Schüco's standards and procedures to carry out full process management, thus providing customers with top-of-the-line products, solutions and services. Also, at the launch of new products, Schüco's technical experts will offer product, processing and installation training courses for partners each year.

"To better deal with various challenges, Schüco will take some digital transformation initiatives, for example, updating its official WeChat clients. In the near future, users will be able to directly query product information as well as locations of Schüco's offline stores," Dietze stressed.