When the Spring Festival of 2022 is coming, a new epidemic situation will arrive unexpectedly. Although the rapid treatment is preventable and controllable, and many people can go home and their relatives and teams under the corresponding protective treatment and health management, there are still people who choose to help control the spread and choose to celebrate the New Year in place.
The Internet industry is also a little different, involving food, clothing, housing and entertainment services deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, as if it is the new infrastructure of this era, and at the same time, it is also trying to explore new growth space. So during this Spring Festival, how does the Internet industry provide services for people in different regions and different ways of celebrating the New Year, and how to find and seize opportunities in uncertainty?
New consumption available in sufficient quantities and on call
Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo, without exception, proposed "no closing" during the Spring Festival, that is, orders and shopping during the festival are still shipped normally. However, there is a difference between the non-closing of each one, Taobao's normal delivery of merchants is often self-operated, Tmall or C2C stores, Jingdong is self-operated and some settled merchants, pinduoduo is concentrated under the tens of billions of subsidies.
Most of the express delivery speed has dropped slightly, but Jingdong's self-operated in first-tier cities can maintain the high efficiency of morning orders and afternoon delivery, but it also makes the delivery staff slightly complain, and it is inevitable that there will be a shortage of manpower during the Spring Festival, and the strength is not worse than the Spring Festival promotion at the bottom of double 11, so that the overall workload exceeds the original expectations. Unlike couriers working overtime to deliver goods, most of the collection points choose to close their business for vacation, so that the express cabinets that originally considered redundancy frequently burst out.
Hu Li, who may have to postpone his return to his workplace, bought all the eligible work equipment in just two days through online shopping, and the stable operation of the platform during the festival made him feel that the paid membership service was not bought in vain. He also has a small complaint, the collection point is closed and the courier cabinet is bursting, so he must go downstairs to pick up the courier himself, but the meeting at work is not as flexible as the delivery time.
Takeaway and community buying have changed the way people eat and buy groceries, and now they're finally influencing the New Year experience. Under the dual guarantee of transportation capacity and supply chain, you can easily order takeaway and buy enough food during the Spring Festival, and supermarkets can also place orders online and wait for home delivery, saving more time for reunion with family, leisure and entertainment.
Dadong, who lives alone in first-tier cities, is accustomed to solving three meals through takeaway, and also chooses takeaway during the local New Year, and he found that the capacity, stores and number of dishes on the takeaway platform during the Spring Festival this year have improved compared with previous years, and have not changed much more than usual. Xiao Fang, who lives with his lover, buys vegetables through community group buying + delivery and then cooks by himself, and he also said that the richness of goods and waiting time are no different from usual.
New consumer products driven by the internet have also changed the way people eat and eat during the Chinese New Year. Lina, who went home for the New Year, put the prepared dishes on the table of Chinese New Year's Eve rice, and after loading the plate, there was no trace of industrial production, and the elders also said that "it was like packing it from the outside restaurant to go home and eat it."
Hema and other new retailers that can provide live cooking are super, convenient for Lu Yao, who wants to take a break during the festival and does not want to cook again, can be processed on the spot and served on the table by purchasing vegetables and meat in the supermarket, and the whole process is transparent and convenient, and even the bowls do not have to be washed personally.
From distribution to word-of-mouth, movies are inseparable from the Internet
During the Spring Festival in 2022, online ticket sales have occupied the absolute mainstream, and the audience has become accustomed to the viewing process of online film selection and offline ticket exchange.
There are 8 newly released movies, which seem to have fallen back to the level of 2019 after a small climax of the previous year, but in fact, it is not easy for audiences who are looking forward to family fun and public tastes to choose - there are 3 animated movies alone, none of which show the temperament of all ages, and only the happy twist new film "This Killer Is Not Calm" actively caters to the joyful atmosphere during the Spring Festival.
These films not only lack the appeal of "Wolf Warrior 2" and "The Wandering Earth", but also cause a lot of controversy due to the theme, values, story direction, etc., and also adversely affect the long-term performance of the film box office during the Spring Festival. The original comprehensive box office amount was slightly leading the Han Han film "Four Seas" than "This Killer Is Not Calm", and since the second day of the Chinese New Year (February 2), it has suffered a decline in word-of-mouth with actual sales, and the expected sales data on February 4 is probably only one-tenth of the former.
Movies could have been an entertainment that people who could enjoy both homecoming and local New Year's Eve, but once again there were negative reviews because of things other than the work: the price of movie tickets for this year's Spring Festival is really a bit expensive. In previous years, 50 yuan is a more mainstream ticket price, relatively luxurious, high-specification cinema hall will come to 100 yuan, IMAX, 4DX and other ultra-high specifications will reach 200 yuan. A large number of netizens feedback that even the 2D sessions are priced at more than 100 yuan, and even the single ticket price is nearly 200 yuan.
Such price changes are quite exhaustive and fishing but helpless meaning, the overall revenue of the film market in the past two years has received many restrictions, and now the Spring Festival file still lacks strong works to attract the audience, so directly to this part of the audience who will definitely watch the movie "cutting leeks", is obviously the most effective means to increase revenue. But how much trust Chinese films can have after this is unknown. Fortunately, all this has not lasted, and movie ticket prices across the country are no longer "noble" and have fallen back to the usual level.
Online viewing is still the first choice for many people to watch movies during the Spring Festival, in addition to the new films in 2021 that are launched on the video platform at a relatively low price, a considerable number of viewers have chosen to pirate foreign movies. Affected by conditions such as schedule arrangements, some global films released at the end of last year have not officially entered The country, this part of the demand for watching movies has always existed, and it has also caused the subtitle group to preview Weibo can forward thousands of "grand situations".
Judging from the data of previous years, it is difficult for imported films to have a key impact on the domestic film market, and they may have promoted the popularization of technologies such as 3D and IMAX and the public perception of new genre films, but they are not the only content that audiences like. The prevalence of piracy will also affect the follow-up arrangements of distributors and theaters, whether to release them one after another according to the original plan, or to reduce the scale of screenings to match the expected number of movies, to know that being able to see the movie for the first time is one of the main reasons for many price-sensitive audiences to enter the cinema.
There is also a new situation in the online broadcast of genuine movies. Whether it is "Aiyouteng" or "Jitter Fast B", these video platforms with different directions, user groups and business strategies have now launched a number of classic program resources, of which the works of the two sides of the strait and the three places from the last century to the beginning of this century are the mainstay. According to relevant sources, the purchase cost of these classic movies "can't even catch up with the fraction of popular new films", but the long-term accumulation of playback and user viewing willingness can bring good new results and active data.
Classic Hong Kong movie lover Mano said that he had never opened the Vibrato Kuaishou before, and it was only when he saw his elders watching old movies on the platform that he became interested. At present, many Hong Kong films launched on major platforms distinguish between Hong Kong screening and mainland screening dubbing, but there are also picture quality, dubbing quality and other aspects can be improved, but he feels that this is enough, compared to the new film "open blind box" viewing experience, becoming a recognized classic old film is obviously the best choice for spending the holiday.
Travel is guaranteed, but there are also "price increases"
Similar to last year, Didi re-launched the Spring Festival service fee rules during the Spring Festival in 2022, which will be mandatorily charged additional fees during the Spring Festival and transferred to drivers in full. Taking the Beijing ride as an example, from the 26th day of the lunar month to the 28th day of the lunar month, there is an additional payment of 5 yuan, and the Chinese New Year's Eve until the ninth day of the first lunar month needs to pay 7 yuan more.
In addition to Didi, almost all mainstream online ride-hailing platforms, including T3 Travel and Meituan Taxi, have also launched Spring Festival service fees, and the charging standards are roughly similar to those of Didi. For platforms that are prone to mismatch between ride demand and capacity during the holidays, this is either an effective means to attract drivers to stay in the local area during the Spring Festival, or to let drivers continue to drive during the Spring Festival, but it also significantly increases the average price of online ride-hailing vehicles.
Some people have questioned the service fee rules for the Spring Festival of online ride-hailing, and many places have not increased the price of ordinary Yangzhao taxis during the New Year, and taxis called through the online ride-hailing platform do not charge service fees, which is obviously compared with the vehicles operated by the platform. Some users believe that the online ride-hailing platform should take the initiative to bear the subsidy during the Spring Festival for drivers, rather than forcibly passing on this part of the cost to consumers, so that unnecessary contradictions will arise between drivers and passengers.
However, there are still people who are willing to use online ride-hailing at a premium, which reflects the relative lack of process and management in the traditional taxi industry. Wang Qin, who went to her boyfriend's hometown for the New Year, still uses online car-hailing in the local area, even if taxis are everywhere and cheaper, the reason is that taxi drivers have habits that she cannot accept, the former is easier to persuade and can complain and solve, and the platform has stronger constraints on drivers than taxi companies.
Due to the large number of uncertainties in the emergence and spread of this round of the epidemic, the control measures in various places are also dynamically adjusted, which makes it easy to cancel many flights that are normally operated on weekdays around the Spring Festival. After the shenzhen announcement of the new addition on January 31, a considerable number of flights to other places were directly cancelled, affecting many people's travel plans during the Spring Festival.
It is somewhat gratifying that the mobile Internet infrastructure can improve the emergency handling after the occurrence of accidents: the air travel vertical and horizontal and major travel ticketing platforms have the first time notification and change the refund channel, the new measures and notifications are also synchronized to the interface that is easy for users to see in time; the nucleic acid test report can be separated from the paper report, and the results can be displayed online by health codes and medical institutions everywhere.
The changes have drawn attention to the possibility of being disturbed by uncertainty through long holidays, and it would be more feasible to travel in a short cycle of one or two days. This may mean that in the future, more people may choose to travel on weekends with more relaxed restrictions in the next year, waiting for a long holiday or public holiday will not be the best choice, even if the travel market changes, there is still an essential difference in whether they can travel.
It can be expected that airlines may once again offer "free fly" products to stimulate prepayment, but under the new travel thinking, the flight redemption rate may be higher than in the previous two years.
Don't worry about the game to play, there are new tricks
Game industry practitioners are likely not to be as busy as in previous years during this year's Spring Festival, and since there will be no new version numbers officially issued in recent months, all game companies, regardless of size and game type, cannot launch new games, and the same is true during the Spring Festival. According to holiday practice, games that have been launched can provide Spring Festival-related activities without unnecessary operational and research and development resources.
For players, it may be another taste, new games can not be launched means that manufacturers need to increase the revenue of existing games, to ensure that they have more anti-risk capabilities under long-term research and development, and players will find that in-game activities become more frequent, and the total price of props unit price is also increasing to varying degrees. Although you can let go and play as you please, the cost may quietly increase.
The new version of the anti-addiction strategy is implemented normally during the Spring Festival, but the seven-day holiday of the Spring Festival is regarded as an ordinary weekend, and minors can go online from 8 to 9 o'clock. It seems that playing at other times can bypass underage players, but it is not possible to isolate the action of adults lending mobile phones to children to play games when visiting relatives and friends, so anti-addiction is still only a tool to help parents educate during the Spring Festival, not a substitute.
Steam and other game platforms have continued to carry out Spring Festival promotions, and many games have given low prices similar to Christmas promotions. These distribution platforms are also a new life-saving straw for game manufacturers, focusing on the potential payment scale is not lost in the domestic global market, and the hot sales of works such as "Anchor Girl Heavy Dependence" launched before the festival also show that the consumption power of Chinese hardcore gamers is actually the international head level, and they are willing to pay for the excellent games that they recognize.
Around the Spring Festival, there were major events in the game industry such as Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Sony's acquisition of Bungie, and the competition for console games has entered a new stage, and the way gamers around the world buy games may also change. It's unclear how much this will affect Chinese games, but it at least proves the value of the global investments and studio layouts that companies like Tencent and NetEase are making.
Secret rooms, script killing, board games are popular entertainment methods for young people during the Spring Festival, of course, these days are often large-scale chain stores that have the ability to provide services, and relatively small individual stores are mostly closed for vacation. Similar to movies, the payment and experience of such offline multiplayer entertainment have been completely transformed by the mobile Internet, not only paying in advance to book the number of times, but even specific game arrangements, personal preferences, etc. have been transferred to mobile phone web pages and mini programs.
The metaverse did not forget to brush the sense of existence during the Spring Festival, but obviously has not yet found a way to spread to the public with the whole experience. The concept of the Meta-universe Spring Festival that appears on the Internet and mainstream media is actually the result of VR/AR after years of development, such as the interactive performance of virtual characters in TV programs in real scenes, the network chat room and sports experience entered by wearing VR all-in-one machines.
During the Spring Festival, Ah Chenggong made full use of VRChat, a network chat room service that can operate independently of VR, and all visitors who enter the chat room can have a 3D image and interact according to body movements. Although he himself has returned to his hometown thousands of miles away, he can get together with his friends through VR, and he appears in an image that he likes and is different from usual.
VR can support the off-site gathering experience, but we can't say that the meta-universe can be the mainstream Spring Festival social mode in the future, and the lack of technology still needs to be solved by the industry. Vr all-in-one machine performance is limited can present a lot of picture details, action feedback also has delay, lack of precision and other issues, not everyone can adapt to the virtual world shown by the lens, the metaverse will still be in the development and exploration stage for a long time.