According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first 11 months of 2021, the total amount of consumer goods in society maintained double-digit growth, and the consumer market continued to recover. However, Wang Dan, chief economist of Hang Seng Bank (China), also stressed in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald that the recovery of consumption in 2021 is actually less than expected. In the context of the normalization of the epidemic, it is not only the size of the consumer market that has changed, but also the consumption trend of the public.
Judging from the many events that occurred in the field of fashion consumption last year, the consumption concept of Chinese consumers has obviously ushered in a more rapid upgrade. They pursue more rational consumption, pay attention to the experience and feeling brought by consumption, and value the social significance behind luxury consumption, which is the change of concept of Chinese consumers after experiencing the epidemic, and the new era of egotism has arrived.
Not many people could have imagined that the consumption winter would come to the "Double Eleven" in 2021 and wrap the Double Twelve into it. When people who came out of the shock began to review the reasons for how the year ended so dismal, in addition to the review of brand operations and platform performance, the observation of consumer psychology and behavior has a higher weight. People were surprised to find that this session of consumers who had created a post-epidemic retail miracle actually began to become "Buddhist" in the second half of 2021, without much willingness to shear wool, and even a considerable number of people were completely unaware of the big promotion.
There are two reasons for this rationality.
On the one hand, under the long-term bombardment of promotional advertising, consumers have been cultivated to a high tolerance, and they are increasingly insensitive to high-frequency subsidies. Moreover, the "2021 China Consumption Trend Report" released by Zhimeng Consulting pointed out that 90% of the surveyed consumers believe that money must be used on the blade, even if it is moving towards consumption upgrading, it is only within the affordable range and in the importance of categories.
On the other hand, the increasing rationality of consumers can also be interpreted as an upliftment of sustainable development awareness. Since the epidemic, people have paid more attention to elements such as environmental protection and health, and cherished the harmonious relationship between man and nature. The public began to realize that consumption was no longer a personal act, and that excessive consumption driven by hedonism would increase the burden on the earth's environment and accelerate the consumption of natural resources. In order to avoid the occurrence of a resource crisis, consumers today, in addition to purchasing less, will also be more inclined to buy goods with a more environmentally friendly production process.
This change is particularly pronounced among younger consumers. According to GreenMatch's research report, up to 90% of millennials surveyed say they will change their perception of a brand because of values. Younger Generation Z admits that it prefers brands that are socially responsible and sustainable.
Gen Z consumers are more inclined to consume brands that are socially responsible and focused on sustainability
The fashion industry is an area that pays attention to the iteration of the trend, and luxury brands are the main drivers of the boom, inducing consumers to frequently abandon the old and welcome the new, so as not to be left behind. In the book Luxury, author Dana Thomas writes: "When brands realize that consumers are no longer generously updating their wardrobes every season, they send a signal through fashion magazine education that if you can't change your full-body look frequently, you can also make you look brand new with a new handbag." ”
But as consumers move to a more mature state, brands are advocating for changes, whether it is a single item or a full body shape, which has become out of date. What brands should emphasize at this moment should be the anti-cyclicality, durability and environmental protection of the product, and improve the perception of the outside world for the concept of sustainable development of the brand.
Gucci, for example, was once criticized for a pair of Princetown slippers that use kangaroo fur. This year, Gucci turned to Basket sneakers made from sustainable materials for the main thrust. According to the brand's official website, the material is named Demetra, which is mainly derived from sustainable, renewable and bio-based sources without animal ingredients, and the brand adopts a process comparable to the tanning technique to make the material have soft and malleable excellent characteristics.
Gucci Basket sneakers
It is worth noting that studies have pointed out that what makes rational consumers pay a premium are the factors that can bring richer meaning to consumers, such as spiritual meaning and emotional value. This means that if brands want to continue to pull up the growth curve, they cannot be completely dominated by selling thinking, and the telling of brand stories is also an indispensable part. Because only in this way can we consolidate the emotional premium of the product in the consumer's mind and avoid consumers from forming the cognition of the product's "moral mismatch".
Over the past few years, the rules of the game in the luxury industry have been set by larger brands and groups that are arguably the dominant players in the development of the entire industry. The reason for the phenomenon of "strong and strong" is rooted in the nature of the luxury industry and consumers' perception of luxury culture.
Frédéric Godart, associate professor of organizational behavior at the French Institute of Business Administration, believes that the ability of head luxury brands to be "strong and strong" is mainly driven by three factors: first, the retaliatory consumption behavior of consumers in the post-epidemic era, especially the strong driving force of the Chinese market, allows the global luxury industry to quickly recover from the blow; second, a large number of consumer behaviors have been transferred to online, and head brands still have advantages in this channel; third, young new rich people around the world are constantly rising They hold up half the sky of luxury consumption.
The head luxury brand is more favored by consumers
When young consumers have the strength to buy luxury goods, they are likely to choose head brands such as Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gucci as their stepping stones into the luxury world. Because for them, having these most well-known and popular luxury goods means that their social identity will have a greater possibility of being recognized by people, and these luxury goods are already a symbol of people's social status. For today's Chinese consumers, they pay more attention to the social symbolism behind luxury goods, that is, status symbols and wealth symbols, luxury goods are a self-aggrandizing carrier that can be measured by price.
If their spending power increases further, then they will set their sights on the higher level of Hermès. In the process, the second echelon brands whose luxury attributes are less prominent are not even on their radar. In other words, in the field of luxury consumption, people will only yearn for better and more expensive luxury goods, so consumption will only escalate and not degrade. Perhaps they will reduce their consumption behavior because of the instability of economic income, but once the economic environment begins to improve, their desire for luxury goods will continue to prompt them to continue to devote themselves to the consumption of luxury goods.
On the other hand, Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for luxury goods has also spread from the primary market to the secondary market. At the same time, the increasingly frequent price increases of head luxury brands after the epidemic have also greatly pushed up the price of domestic second-hand luxury goods, especially those classic hot products that are also "difficult to find in the primary market", and their prices in the second-hand market are sometimes even higher than the price of new counters.
Coupled with the promotion of retro trends, those classic luxury goods that have been time-verified to get rid of the fashion cycle have become "sought-after goods" in the second-hand luxury market. In a sense, these luxury goods have become an investment and wealth management product with value preservation characteristics. Consumers buy at a low price today, and when the trend returns, the brand price increases, the production is discontinued or the replica style is re-launched, and then sell it at a high price, consumers will be able to profit from it. According to the "Second-hand Luxury Consumption List for the First Half of 2021" released by the second-hand luxury e-commerce red Brin, resale of luxury goods has become a new type of financial management behavior, and in the first half of the year, some users gained 37264 yuan by reselling a Chanel gold double C vintage necklace, and some users made a net profit of 25213 yuan in a transaction of hermès orange leather vintage shoulder bag.
A Hermès Platinum Bag sold in a Hermès store in New York in 2007 for $129,000
Another example is the Dior saddle bag, which has been discontinued for several years, after being reinterpreted by Maria Grazia Chiuri, has become the brand's new explosive bag, and the price of its original version of the saddle bag in the second-hand market has soared.
Therefore, whether luxury goods have the characteristics of value preservation is also another consideration for consumers today when buying luxury goods. From the perspective of the market, luxury goods with value preservation characteristics are often the products of those head brands, such as Hermès platinum bags, Chanel's 2.55 bags, Louis Vuitton's old flower bags and so on. They are the most market-known and recognizable classic products of the head brand, and can meet the conspicuous needs of consumers when consuming luxury goods, so the classic models with value preservation characteristics are the styles that consumers are more inclined to choose when they buy luxury goods for the first time.
Chanel 2.55 pack
Fundamentally, whether a commodity can appreciate in value is directly related to its demand. If consumers buy luxury goods for investment needs, they often choose the brand classics that have been available for a long time and have high recognition, rather than the new models that have not yet become a climate or a niche model, so the brand can continue to attract investment consumers by renovating the classics.
Value-preserving-oriented purchases mean that consumers will hold the item for a long time. In the use of goods over the years, it is inevitable that the product will be lost, and the appearance of the product has a crucial impact on the price. In view of this, the brand can actually improve its own maintenance and repair services, and the market demand from the private to the official.
On November 30 last year, the luxury down jacket brand Canada Goose Was exposed by the media as having after-sales regulations that "Chinese mainland stores are not allowed to return" and fell into a whirlpool of public opinion.
It is reported that after purchasing a down jacket of the brand with a price of 11,400 yuan, a consumer surnamed Jia found that the goods had quality problems such as trademark embroidery errors, rough stitching, and pungent odors in the fabric, so he launched a return request to the store, but was rejected by the store, on the grounds that "there is no right to return, and it needs to be solved at the headquarters level." In addition, the customer also revealed that at the time of purchase, the store asked to sign a "replacement clause", the first of which stipulates that "unless otherwise provided by relevant laws, all goods sold Chinese mainland specialty stores are non-refundable." ”
Canada Goose
However, in the process of being interviewed by the Shanghai Municipal Consumer Protection Commission, the relevant person in charge of Canada Goose said that the clause did not apply to Chinese mainland. From the statement released by Canada Goose on the Weibo platform, it can be seen that the return policy in China is limited to "all products sold Chinese mainland stores can be returned and refunded if they comply with relevant laws and regulations". But on issues such as "which legal provisions are complied with" and "how to define compliance", Canada Goose did not give a clearer explanation.
A stone dropped by a Canada goose instantly stirs up a thousand layers of waves. Some netizens combed through the relevant terms of return and exchange of multiple luxury brands, and found that there are different situations between China and foreign countries. For example, Louis Vuitton, if the consumer goes to the Chinese mainland store, it can be returned within 7 days and exchanged within 30 days, but if it is in the United States, Canada and other countries, the return and exchange period can be up to 30 days.
In addition to the difference between China and foreign countries, the differences in the online and offline return and exchange policies of the brand have also been jointly disclosed. According to consumers, in the Chinese mainland, many brands such as Chanel, Dior and Burberry only exchange and not return products sold through offline stores, but if purchased through online flagship stores, they can be returned without reason within 7 days from the date of receipt.
The above exposure of the service shortcomings of luxury brands has become a hot topic. It can be seen that Chinese consumers are now paying more and more attention to whether brands can provide premium services that match the price when purchasing luxury goods. In fact, although most luxury brands have blossomed everywhere in China, their pre-sales and after-sales service levels still have a gap with Countries such as Europe and the United States.
Therefore, for luxury brands that also intend to tap dividends in the Chinese market, the most urgent problem to be solved is to improve the service quality of sales staff before the sale and improve the service system after the sale, so that the Chinese and foreign markets are treated equally. WWD China has previously reported that some luxury brands have gradually upgraded their own services, Hermès and Chanel have opened special after-sales repair stores in Osaka, Japan, and Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli has begun to update its free cutting and repair service terms in the face of increasing maintenance needs.
Chanel launched the "Chanel & Moi" program last year
Earlier, luxury brands such as Gucci and Burberry officially launched official after-sales service on Tmall, and consumers have since enjoyed the after-sales service provided by the brand without going to the store, because the service process is completed by express delivery, so regardless of the region, regardless of whether the city where the consumer is located has a special counter, they can enjoy the same after-sales service as the offline counter.
As cases like Canada Goose are more exposed, luxury brands also need to be more aware that in the Chinese market, the balance between pre-sales and after-sales must be balanced, and Chinese consumers also need equal and high-quality after-sales service. It is foreseeable that after Chinese consumers continue to speak out through rights protection and see the growing vitality of the Chinese consumer market, repair shops and after-sales systems such as Chanel and Hermès, which have been implemented abroad, will also be brought to the Chinese market in the future
In an era of oversupply buying options, there is a general recognition in the industry that consumer loyalty is declining, and the more common it is among younger people. In the face of these impermanent consumers, if brands want to stay invincible for a long time, in addition to catching up with the ever-changing fashion trends in time, it is more important to quickly understand the ever-changing consumer trends and find a relatively stable development direction from them. WWD
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