It is necessary to persuade unconsumed customers, but at the same time, they are afraid of causing conflicts by urging them.
"Consumer seat", how to save merchants from the dilemma?
In the afternoon, a chain coffee shop in Beijing was experiencing its peak customer flow, and a “Consumer Seating” sign was prominently placed next to the table in the store. A clerk walked up to the table of a customer who had not purchased any drinks or meals and asked: "Do you need to order? If not, you can only sit down if you pay here." Nowadays, this kind of scene is happening frequently in various stores.
Recently, Starbucks China released the "Third Space Initiative" and announced the implementation of "Consumption Seating" in stores across the country. Subsequently, individual stores of IKEA, Bawang Chaji, Nayuki's Tea and other brands have also begun to follow suit. This incident triggered extensive public discussion: some people believe that seats are business resources and should be given priority to paying customers; others believe that rigidly setting consumption thresholds will eliminate the humanistic warmth that urban commercial spaces can have.
Behind a small chair is the pull between commercial survival and public demand, and it is also an urban governance question: How to fill up the public open space so that businesses do not have to be in a dilemma between human relations and business?
"Consumption seating" is legally defensible
In a Starbucks in Chaoyang, Beijing, consumer Gao Yang is tasting coffee. After the store implemented "consumption seating", his most obvious feeling was that he could finally sit down and have a drink on weekends. "I used to go out with friends at Starbucks on weekends. Many times it was always full, so I had to order and go shopping with my coffee."
Many consumers have similar experiences to Gao Yang. Seats have been occupied for a long time, which directly affects consumers' experience. In actual business scenarios, the contradiction goes beyond "it's hard to find a building." The order and hygiene problems caused by the mixed people in the store have also become real problems for many consumers who visit the store.
"I fully understand the need for some customers to take a temporary break, but it is difficult to accept that some people who are not consuming make loud noises and behave unhygienicly in the store, thereby affecting other customers in the store." Consumer Ms. Fan said.
Mr. Dong, the owner who has been in the catering industry for more than 20 years, strongly supports "consumption and seating". In his view, if people can sit down regardless of consumption, it will not only cause damage to the sanitary environment, but also waste human resources and loss of customer trust.
"In the past, when there were too many people in the store but there was no food on the table, many customers would think that the store was looking for scalpers to boost the store's popularity, which would have a great negative impact on the store's reputation," Mr. Dong said.
Huang Shilin, a lawyer at Beijing Hengdu Law Firm, said in an interview with reporters that legally speaking, the seats provided by merchants are part of the supporting facilities of the business project, and they have the right to refuse the use of non-consumers. Seats can be understood as a "gift", which together with the main product constitute the content of the transaction. Without consuming the main product, you naturally have no right to ask for gifts.
"Examination questions" on the human feelings behind business
"Consumer seating" is legally tenable, and when the brand announced the new regulations, it also emphasized that "the rules are clear and the implementation is temperature-controlled." However, the standards have fallen to the front line, and the scale is difficult to grasp, and it relies heavily on the response of on-site store employees. Different stores and different staff may handle the same situation in completely different ways, which also creates hidden dangers for conflicts.
On October 22, Ms. Yang, a Shanghai citizen, walked into a Starbucks store. There were plenty of seats in the store. She had to attend an emergency online meeting and planned to place an order after the meeting. Unexpectedly, in just one and a half hours, the clerk came up to remind her to order five times. Ms. Yang believed that the clerk’s repeated interruptions troubled her, and she eventually switched to another nearby store.
Regarding this phenomenon, Xin Shengxi, associate professor at the School of Social Development of East China Normal University, said in an interview with reporters that the controversy over "consumer seating" is not only a contradiction between business interests and public leisure needs, but also reflects the misalignment of different social groups' understanding of space usage norms.
Faced with this dislocation, Hu Xiaowu, executive director of the Urban Science Institute of Nanjing University, believes that in general, a dynamic balance between profitability and public welfare in commercial space should be maintained. "Try to respect the interests of merchants during peak hours, and respect the public welfare demands of customers during off-peak hours. This may be a boundary option in time and space. Merchants themselves need to balance business interests and social welfare, which is understandable, but they can be made more humane and flexible." Hu Xiaowu said, of course, public rest spaces also need to be supplemented.
Create more public spaces for stopping and relaxing
In order to explore the current situation of temporary open space in the city, the reporter recently visited a shopping mall in Beijing. As the afternoon rush hour approaches, several takeaway riders are squatting on the steps of a subway entrance not far from the shopping mall, while more people are leaning directly on their takeout trucks.
"Most of the time I still sit on my motorcycle and rest." Rider Mr. Geng told reporters, "There are a few familiar stations, but there are also many places where I don't know where to sit, so I am used to sitting on the car."
"The current controversy caused by 'consumption seating' reflects the shortcomings of urban free public open spaces such as insufficient total supply, uneven regional distribution and insufficient social advocacy capabilities." Hu Xiaowu analyzed, "Cities should create more public spaces for ordinary people to stop and rest. This is not only an important yardstick to measure the degree of civilization of a city, but also carries the construction concept of warmth and goodwill, highlighting the city's inclusive background and modern temperament."
In Xin Shengxi’s view, public open spaces are “social infrastructure” that maintain social connections between people and between people and the city. Xin Shengxi suggested that urban planning should shift from centering on facility configuration and spatial coverage to people-centered, and pay more attention to sociological surveys and research on residents' daily life behaviors. He believes that in the future, urban public spaces should shift from emphasis on construction to emphasis on use, enhance service and operation awareness, and better meet the needs of citizens through more open space design, clear service guidelines and flexible opening hours. At the same time, we should also explore a collaborative operation model among governments, enterprises, communities and social organizations to improve the use efficiency and long-term maintenance capabilities of facilities while ensuring public welfare and basic free services.
Reporter Dong Luyu
