Source: Half Moon Talk
Economic development promotes social change, and the new trend that emerges with social change also provides the soil for the growth of the new economy. In recent years, young people and other groups advocate individuality, pursue self, and present new characteristics in terms of hobbies and social methods. The scale of these groups has gradually grown, and the consumption potential has begun to be released, which has spawned new economic formats such as the meng economy, the single economy, and the social terror economy.
Selling the cute economy: "Cute" can be sold like this
Recently, the Shanghai Disney Internet celebrity little fox Ling Na Belle doll has been speculated at a sky-high price, behind this seemingly unreasonable phenomenon, is the huge influence of the selling economy. From mobile phone shells, to snack packaging, to daily necessities, many goods are attracting attention with the help of "meng", and the cute economy has quietly risen and become a new economic format.
Shanghai Disney's new "net red" Ling Na Belle beckoned to visitors
The selling economy originated in Japan, with cultural goods or services extending from Japanese animation and other industries as a form of expression. With the popularity of Japanese animation among young people in China, the selling economy began to enter our country and became an emerging economic phenomenon. The so-called cute economy is to meet the economic behavior of consumers' pursuit of cuteness and appreciation of cuteness as the main selling point or value-added point through "cute" products.
International cartoon image brand company Line Friends using the chat tool "LINE" emoji cartoon image to develop a series of derivatives, in 5 years, Line Friends opened more than 160 offline stores, 12 online stores, covering 19 countries and regions, the economic benefits are extremely impressive.
In China, from the Henan Museum to the Palace Museum to the Dunhuang Museum, the museum's cultural creation no longer shows people in a cold appearance, and has launched its own unique "meng" IP. During the "Double 11" period in 2021, the museum's cultural creation became a dark horse in sales, and sales on the first day of sale surged by more than 400% year-on-year. The 17th China International Animation Festival, held in Hangzhou in October 2021, brought more than 300 well-known domestic animation game movies and other IP works and related genuine peripheral products to the audience, with a signed amount of 480 million yuan.
Starbucks
Cat's claw cups, Pikachu mobile phone cases, a variety of co-branded T-shirts, and products with cute blessings are increasingly favored by the market, especially young people.
In the home of college student Chen Dan, cartoon dolls and handmade can be seen everywhere, and even daily necessities such as toothbrushes and teacups have a variety of cartoon patterns. She said: "I am more concerned about the 'price-to-face ratio' than the 'cost-effectiveness' of the goods. ”
Xiao Yang, who interned in Guangzhou, is a cat lover and once considered raising an English short. "After thinking about it for a long time, I finally gave up." But his love for cats prompted Xiao Yang to often buy some cultural and creative products about cats. "Although it will cost an additional 300 yuan per week, this cost is worth it." Looking at the teacups and pillows printed with cat patterns, my mood has changed. Xiao Yang said.
Feng Jie, a full-time psychological counselor at Jiangsu Normal University, said that there are multiple motivations behind people willingly pay for "Meng".
First, although modern society is highly developed in social means, many people's willingness to communicate has declined compared with the past, and they like to stay in a comfortable self-space. At this time, cute anime images and pets have become the objects of people's emotional trust and making up for the gap in their feelings.
Second, today's post-90s and post-00s have gradually become the backbone of consumption, and this consumer group pays more attention to the spiritual attributes, comfort and fashionability of products, which is also an important reason why "cute" products have a market.
The selling economy is rising rapidly, and while this 100 billion market is bringing economic benefits, some problems have also been exposed.
All kinds of "cute products" on the market seem to be very "cute" and tempting, but in fact, many of them are counterfeit and inferior, and they cannot be trusted. At the same time, the explosive "cute products" are easy to trigger hunger marketing, scalpers take the opportunity to speculate, disrupt the normal market order, and even let people be deceived.
Industry insiders believe that the economy of selling Meng has a high degree of dependence on creativity, and relevant departments should severely crack down on infringement in accordance with the law, do a good job in the whole process of intellectual property management for "Cute products", and realize the management of the whole process of IP creativity, production, confirmation of rights, storage, authorization, operation, protection, etc., so as to remove the false and the true, seek advantages and avoid harms, and let the selling economy always walk on the road to health.
The single economy: finding happiness for "one person"
"Ordering takeaway will see if there is a single set menu, eating at the store will see if there is a seat, buying vegetables and small household appliances is also according to one person, economical and not wasteful." Ms. Lou, a post-90s woman who works in Hangzhou, is a single girl, and the "one-person" shopping method has slowly become a way of life.
The pursuit of exquisite, minimalist life has become a new trend for young people. Statistics show that there are more than 200 million single people in China, and such a huge number of people has spawned a single economic market.
As the most life-related industry, the catering service industry has ushered in new business opportunities. Many restaurant operators have a keen sense of smell and provide a safe and comfortable dining environment for single diners. In a restaurant in Harbin, there is not only a round table area for the reunion of three or five friends, but also a relatively quiet single bar space planned by the window, and also through small food or single set menus to meet the needs of single diners.
Chef making a single-player dish By Xu Chang
Half Moon Talk reporter visited and found that not only one person eats hot pot, small portions of takeaway, 100 grams of a bag of rice, 200 ml of small bottles of red wine, small packages of pre-cooked or semi-finished ingredients, 400ml of soybean milk machine, small capacity rice cooker and other small household appliances have gradually become popular in the market, becoming a new favorite, showing a strong growth trend.
"The northeastern cuisine is a large portion, and we have deliberately launched the 'half dish', just to facilitate the convenience of customers who come alone, so that they can also order two more tastings." The owner of a northeast restaurant in Harbin's Xiangfang District said.
The "2021 Third Quarter Enterprise Development Data Report" shows that the single economy is juxtaposed with the lazy economy, the beauty economy, and the healthy economy, becoming one of the four major trend economies, and the trillion market has emerged.
Under this gradually spreading wave of single economy, "solitary musicism" has also created a number of small and beautiful, small and fine, small and strong single industries, including one person renting, one person traveling, one person watching movies, one person karaoke...
In the Weibo search for "one person travel", many netizens posted blogs saying that "if you want to be alone, the biggest wish is to travel alone" "Being with others is social, and you have the feeling of sorting out the inner world by yourself", and some travel bloggers recommend special attractions suitable for one-person travel, travel strategies, and photo skills for a person to travel.
Under the influence of the single consumption philosophy, alleviating loneliness does not necessarily depend on partners, and pets are very attractive to single people, which can help them spend time and bring spiritual companionship.
"Almost every month, I buy new clothes, new toys, good dog food, teething sticks, and take him to the bath every two weeks." Wang Yi (not his real name), who works in Beijing, said, "I enjoyed my time with my dog, and we were with each other. ”
Like Wang Yi, many young people have become "shovelers" and are leveraging the pet market of 100 billion. In addition to pet supplies and food, the industrial chain including pet medical treatment, grooming, training, etc., has also added new vitality to the single economy.
According to a data from the enterprise information inquiry platform, there are currently 1.154 million pet product-related enterprises in China. In the third quarter of 2021, the number of pet product-related enterprises registered was 205,000, with an average growth rate of 95.5% in the past two years.
Expert analysis pointed out that the rise of the single economy reflects the great changes in China's social structure and social psychology, and also indicates the huge space for the upgrading of consumption formats and the expansion of consumption space.
Social terror economy: a new business that refuses to socialize
Now, more and more young people label themselves as "social phobia". For those who are afraid or unwilling to communicate with others, the consumption scenario that emphasizes socialization is too exhausting and complex. Some merchants have also found new consumption points, and they have plugged in the plug of "technology", providing more possibilities for the "social terror economy".
Psychological counselor Huang Bingjie said that whether "social fear" or not, it is necessary to go through professional diagnostic standards, but now some young people are happy to use "social fear" as a distinct identity label.
"It's better to socialize with some unfamiliar friends than to play with your phone at home." Xiaolan, 19, said it was not that she did not dare to socialize with others, but that she did not want to. The 24-year-old Xiaoan is not introverted, but once there are many people, the surrounding environment will make her feel uncomfortable.
Although individuals have different situations, they all prefer a relaxed and free, relatively private, and social consumption environment.
The coverage of online services provides more possibilities for refusing to socialize, and some offline consumption scenarios are also paying more and more attention to creating a "sense of boundaries": some taxi software can require drivers to "don't chat", "fitness mirrors" and other intelligent hardware that cancels social scenes are welcome, and unmanned hotels and unmanned restaurants are beginning to appear...
Li Zhan is the person in charge of Leyizhu, China's first unmanned (no front desk, no waiter) smart hotel brand. He said that the hotel has gained a large number of young customers with the characteristics of "no one" and has remained profitable during the epidemic. There was once a college student who stayed in the store for more than 40 consecutive days because "living here, whether it is playing games, reading books or sleeping, I will not be disturbed."
For many people, socializing with people is a draining thing. Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, believes that some young people do not like face-to-face consumption patterns, and under the changes in technology and consumer culture, the social terror economy has risen, and this consumer demand can be satisfied to a certain extent.
Li Zhan said that as service providers, they need to anticipate the needs of consumers and provide cutting-edge, novel and all-round services in order to open up new markets. What the "social terror" group wants is a convenient, relaxed, efficient, free and private consumption scene.
In the interview, the reporter found that the "social fear" family is not completely resistant to socialization, some of them are very willing to socialize, but they are afraid and worried about it, and this negative emotion will occupy the main attention when socializing.
In this regard, Huang Bingjie mentioned that people with "social fear" are often contradictory and entangled in their hearts, and they do not want to participate in social interaction, but they are afraid of being examined by some kind of gaze. The key to the development of the social terror economy is not to help them avoid social interaction, but to find the needs behind the "social terror" people, and to create a social-friendly consumption environment from the perspective of alleviating anxiety.
Shi Yanrong said that many young people now have a strong sense of autonomy in shopping and consumption, and do not like enthusiastic sales behavior, so some merchants need to provide services with a proper sense of distance. At the same time, she believes that young people are willing to try, and can combine traditional demand-based consumption with cultural consumption and experiential consumption to provide young people with a consumption space where they can easily interact.