Old brands need to modernize to remain popular

Some of the old stores on Qianmen Dajie are in trouble. They are relying too much on their past reputation and struggling to keep customers as new stores come and offer something novel and exciting.

Not wanting to see the demise of these old brands, a forum has been established to deal with certain problems.

The China Time-honored Brands Development and Innovation Forum, which was held on Thursday as part of The 3rd Qianmen Historical Culture Festival, aims to promote the culture of Qianmen's time-honored brands.

"Promoting the time-honored brand will help develop an enterprise culture," said Zhao Hongyu, who is a guest professor at Tsinghua University.

The forum created a platform for people to exchange experiences from a diverse range of fields.

For example, Zheng Xinli, the deputy director of China Association of Policy and Science, told attendees that old brands need to still innovate and try to spread their reputation abroad.

"This is important for sales promotion and to uphold their reputation," Zheng said.

Zheng touches on a key point, namely that brands need to innovate if they want to survive in a globalized context. A sense of nostalgia is simply not enough to keep people coming back, especially among the younger generation.

"Actually, after being curious, I did not think it tasted good," said Zhang, a 27-year-old visitor from Taiwan, who tried a traditional snack from an old store on Qianmen Dajie. "Maybe my tastes are just too different to enjoy a traditional snack," she noted.

An older generation and local people are the major groups who still frequent time-honored brands.

However, even among these groups, a reputation of high price and poor quality are putting now many off.

"I only come here now as a guide for foreign visitors and to buy souvenirs," said a local resident surnamed Li, who queues at Duyichu, a restaurant that sells steaming dumplings, one of the time-honored brand.

Many of these brands are aware of their weaknesses and are keen to maintain a competitive edge in this market. If they want to remain on Qianman Dajie in the future, they must make an effort to modernize.