retail trade Constant dispute about the closing time

Status: 21.06.2021 5:43 p.m.

25 years ago, the Bundestag approved longer shop opening times. But to what extent do more flexible rules benefit retail – and what price do employees pay? The debate continues.

From Jens Eberl, WDR

When Berliners want to go shopping in Bavaria, they might find themselves in front of closed doors every now and then. Berliners are used to having shops open around the clock. And Bavaria, on the other hand, has the shortest opening times in Germany. Since 2006, responsibility for regulating shop closing times lies with the federal states. The federal store closing law only applies in the federal states that have not passed their own store opening law; and that is the case in Bavaria. According to the Federal Store Opening Act, sales are allowed Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bakeries are allowed to open from 5.30 a.m. In Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony, the shops are allowed to open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., in the other federal states, 0 a.m. to midnight.

“The job can hardly be planned any more”

Have the more flexible opening times proven effective? The balance sheets are very different. Stefan Genth, chief executive of the retail trade association (HDE), says that liberalization was an important and right step. “Especially in the food retail sector, customers like to use the longer opening times to shop later in the evening after the working day and to take a look around.” The service union ver.di, on the other hand, speaks of a massive deterioration in working conditions. “Due to the long opening times, the employees are required to be much more flexible, the job can hardly be planned,” says Federal Board Member Stefanie Benefitberger. Compared to the past, there are many more part-time workers; the longer opening times have not led to the creation of full-time jobs. “There are simply fewer staff available for advice in the store, so that the opening times can be covered,” says Benefitberger. “Two thirds of those employed in retail are women. The expansion of part-time work and employment that is not subject to social security contributions are at their expense and mean that they are dependent on basic security in old age.”

Jobs for millions of people

The industry association contradicts: Liberalization has increased the need for labor in the retail sector. “Particularly in the food trade, additional jobs were created in order to be able to cover the evening and night hours,” said HDE General Manager Genth. Overall, the retail trade in Germany today offers more than three million people a job.

The union also sees a connection between the dying inner cities and the long opening times. There was a big cutthroat competition, so ver.di board member Benefitberger. “Four corporations make around 80 percent of sales in foodstuffs, three corporations make almost 90 percent of sales in drugstore articles.” Not every company was able to go along, especially smaller shops should have closed that way.

Sunday opening as an economic aid?

In the current discussion about shop opening times, the main focus is currently on Sunday. The trade association, the association of towns and municipalities and Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), have signed up for a general Sunday opening until Christmas – as an economic aid for the industry, which has been hard hit by Corona.

“In many other areas of the economy, opening on Sundays is a matter of course. In restaurants and pubs it is part of everyday life that the doors are also wide open on Sundays. The same is true of theaters, cinemas or museums worked on Sundays, “said industry representative Genth. “Only in the retail sector, as a rule, everything has to be closed on Sundays. That is no longer in keeping with the times.”

Resistance in court too

But the trade union ver.di is massively resisting further liberalization, which is why it repeatedly goes to court. The advance of the HDE is a “general attack” on the trade workers, their families, and the Basic Law. “The HDE thinks too short-sightedly when it hopes to liven up the city centers and shops with shopping Sundays,” said union Benefitberger. “Because just because it is open longer, people cannot spend more money. Sunday sales only move sales from working days to Sunday.”

At the moment, shops generally have to close on Sundays and public holidays. There are exceptions, for example, for bakeries, flower shops, newsagents, petrol stations and shops in train stations and airports

At present, my country’s mobile phone manufacturers can be described as a situation where a hundred schools of thought are contending. In this environment, Xiaomi also relies on exceptional and smooth out of the circle. Even though they started their business on mobile phones, they are not limited to mobile phones.

This can be seen from the Xiaomi store, whether it is a mobile phone or household appliances, it is all available, and even a lot of after-life supplies are not spared, which also gives Xiaomi the title of Xiaomi grocery store. Under the diversified business philosophy, Xiaomi has indeed brought a lot of returns. Now the income of Xiaomi’s grocery store has accounted for 40% of the total income.

Although Xiaomi’s cross-border capability is unquestionable, it has always been a strong dragon in some industries. Among them, it is a good example in the socket market. At present, the best sockets in our country are probably the bulls. After all, they have the number one market share in the plug-in board industry.

The market value also exceeded 136 billion yuan, becoming the first share of sockets. In the flipper industry, Ruan Liping, the founder of the Bull, has also been cultivating for 25 years. Over the past 25 years, the Bulls have always focused on the subdivision of sockets, which has also brought Ruan Liping a worth of 45 billion yuan.

Technology Entrepreneurship

Ruan Liping can be said to be a typical representative of technology entrepreneurship. He studied mechanical design in college. After graduation, he successfully entered the Hangzhou Institute of Mechanical Design, which was a very enviable job at the time.

But obviously Ruan Liping is not the kind of person who likes stability. He started his journey into the sea a few years later. After buying pig livers and planting strawberries and other small businesses, Ruan Liping also aimed at the hottest plug industry at the time.

At first, Ruan Liping still didn’t like many power strips because the quality was really bad. After dismantling, he found that the original technical content of the power strip was not too high, so he planned to do it himself. So Bull Electric was established in 1995.

Establish 750,000 sales channels

At the beginning of Ruan Liping’s career, the power strip market was full of fantasies. For many users at that time, they could only choose foreign brands if they wanted to buy good quality power strips.

The price of foreign sockets is ten times that of domestic ones. Bulls do not fight the price war, and the prices of sockets introduced are much lower than those of foreign ones. With a good reputation, the Bulls have gradually gained a foothold in the plug-in market. After the bull became famous, it also attracted a lot of imitations.

Just 6 years later, Bull’s socket converter has become the industry’s first brand. The reason why the Bulls can achieve such results, in addition to their good quality, is also very important in terms of marketing. At that time, people chose to go to hardware stores to buy such products, so the bull simply made free signs for these hardware stores, and the bull logo was hung on it, so that the bull brand has formed a familiarity in the market over time.

With the continuous development of sales channels, Bull has established more than 750,000 hardware sales channels in a comprehensive way, and has become the number one brand in people’s hearts. What everyone might not have expected is that this small power strip also has such a great power. With this small object, Ruan Liping’s revenue reached 10 billion in 19 years, and the net profit exceeded 2.2 billion. In the first nine months of 20 years, the bull’s net profit reached nearly 1.6 billion.

Almost overtaken by Xiaomi

In terms of the quality of the inserts, the Bulls are already impeccable. However, the Bulls have encountered a crisis, that is, Xiaomi’s corner overtaking behind it. In 15 years, Xiaomi also quietly and suddenly entered the socket market, and it also brought a revolutionary innovation to the socket, that is, the addition of a USB socket to the socket, which is undoubtedly a problem for the Bulls. Very serious blow.

Under the shock, the Bull also responded quickly, and immediately launched products such as timing sockets and smart sockets according to market changes, which can be said to be in line with the development of the times. In 18 years, when the Bulls went public, they were also sued by their peers. This lawsuit delayed the Bull’s listing plan, and the listing was not completed until the beginning of the 20th century. However, the bull performance after the listing is also very strong, in a short period of time, the market value has risen from 50 billion to 155.4 billion at its peak.

to sum up

There are two main reasons why the Bulls can stand out. First of all, the first is to take a fancy to the pain points of the market, differentiate the brand, and allow consumers to bind the quality to the bull, creating a unique brand effect for the bull. The second is focus. In the 25 years of development of the Bulls, it has been focusing on the socket field and has not carried out blind expansion. It is not easy to work hard in a field for so many years, and it deeply interprets the craftsmanship that it is not easy to do a good job.

On the other hand, other brands in this field are doing things in the east and doing things in the west. They meet in all fields but do not have the strength, which leads to not doing anything well in the end. Antarctic people are the most classic representatives among them, and they seem to have become a grocery store. I have to say that there is some truth to the success of the bull.