The "Internet Generation" opens a new mode of frugality

In February last year, Zhu An'an, who was about to graduate from a bachelor's degree, brought only a few clothes and toiletries to embark on an internship trip from her hometown of Gansu to Beijing. Coping with one night at the hotel, I moved into a rented house the next day. Most of the daily necessities in the room need to be purchased by themselves. Under the recommendation of her intern colleagues, she bought quilts, pillows, floor mats, mirrors, plug boards, electric kettles, etc. through a single order, "The total amount is less than 200 yuan, which is very cost-effective." "Juan ann tasted the sweetness of the spelling for the first time.

Group purchases, point redemption, coupon collection, shopping festival stockpiling, buying and selling second-hand goods... For Chen Yuxuan, who studied at a university in Henan, these various online shopping models are all tricks to "use for me" and achieve the purpose of saving money. It is not difficult to get online shopping discounts, one of Chen Yuxuan's roommates is a "wool wool" master, when encountering cost-effective daily necessities discounts, grouping, will always gather roommates to participate together, "usually buy laundry detergent, hoard paper towels and other consumables, this way is indeed very 'friendly' to the wallet."

Different from the traditional offline bargaining and shopping and hoarding in the discount season of supermarkets, the rise of new consumption models in the network environment has spawned a "new frugal model" on the Internet. China Youth Daily and China Youth School Media launched a questionnaire survey for college students across the country on related issues, and a total of 1873 valid questionnaires filled in by students from 123 colleges and universities were recovered. According to the survey results, 68.55% of the respondents have looked for a variety of ways to save money on the Internet platform, 20.18% of the respondents have not tried because there is no channel, and 11.27% of the respondents feel that there is no need to try.

Often "Xue" is always new, and the new consumption model of the network has spawned a new way to save money

A cream that usually sells for 40 or 50 yuan per bottle, "March 8" Women's Day is stacked through various discounts, and 6 bottles are only 80 yuan in total. "Friends came to me to spell orders, and I bought them when I felt good." Yao Ran, who studied at Wuhan University, was impressed by the 150 yuan discount on the shopping experience. As an online shopping enthusiast, she has a set of experiences on how to buy the goods she needs at affordable prices. In Pinduoduo Pinduo, get coupons in the Douyin live broadcast room, save the items you need to buy in the discount season, compare the prices of different e-commerce platforms... There are many ways to save money.

The living expenses of 1500 yuan per month must make themselves happy and cannot exceed the quota, liu Shengqian, who studied in Shandong, has honed the "art of balance" in careful calculation. Like daily necessities of paper towels, books, shower gel, laundry detergent, he all choose to buy on the group purchase platform, "the amount is large and cheap, spend dozens of dollars can use for more than half a semester, and this money is only enough to buy a large bottle of laundry detergent in the supermarket." ”

The rise and vigorous development of online shopping is providing more and more consumption methods, as the Internet native college students, walking on the cusp of online consumption, choose to "wool" on the Internet, has been integrated into the daily consumption habits of some of the college students surveyed. A survey by the media of the Young And Middle School found that the most popular way for college students surveyed to save money online was to use the e-commerce platform to fight a single group purchase function (59.58%), followed by the network "shop around", comparing the cost performance of different platforms and merchant products (58.36%). In addition, saving the goods needed for shopping festivals and discount seasons (37.85%), receiving coupons (37.27%) through e-commerce shopping platforms, live broadcasts, etc., exchanging points for coupons or cash (34.49%), shopping on second-hand platforms (21.62%), and selling idle items (17.03%) through second-hand platforms are also the choices of college students surveyed.

Unlike the scene of the previous generation bargaining offline and shopping in shopping malls and supermarkets during the discount season, Chen Yuxuan is full of interest in online "wool", but he is not too "cold" to the discount activities of offline stores. "First, because of the news of discounts in offline stores, it depends on people to distribute flyers, and it may not be able to catch up." And going offline requires a certain time cost, the information is not very symmetrical, if I spend time to go to the offline store, but find that the offer does not meet my expectations, the experience is not very good. "But online can always pay attention to the change of commodity prices, the same time can browse more goods, do not need to spend too much time and cost to get the opportunity to save money, "convenience is still the first priority."

One of Zhang Yuanyuan's money-saving tips is to "shop around", such as buying high-priced goods such as electronic products, she will compare the brand stores of various platforms horizontally and compare the preferential subsidy ranges, especially those with official subsidies on the platform. Last year, she was ready to buy a new mobile phone, several comparisons, and finally in a single platform of tens of billions of subsidies, only spent 5899 yuan to buy the original price of 6799 yuan mobile phone.

According to the survey of the media of the Middle and Youth School, the most "wool" consumption areas of the college students surveyed online are clothing and clothing (63.47%), snacks and beverages (62.19%), daily necessities (44.72%), beauty and skin care (37.60%), school supplies (34.33%), transportation (24.05%), movie entertainment (23.19%), electronic products (21.10%), dolls (15.27%) and other fields.

"Open source" is good, low-carbon and money-saving double harvest

According to the survey of middle and young school media, 79.34% of the respondents think that the "new frugal model" of the Internet is very practical and does play a role in saving; 38.76% think it is very fresh and provides new consumption options; 34.97% think it is interesting, not only saving but also integrating social attributes; and 8.38% of the respondents think that it is unnecessary to increase the complexity of shopping.

The new trading model brought by the online platform provides new saving ideas for college students who were originally simple consumers. In addition to "throttling", Chen Yuxuan has also tried to save money that is both environmentally friendly and "open source". He once hung a 2018 model tablet on the second-hand trading platform and idle fish. "Now electronic products are often used for 3 to 5 years, and after idle, they are 'eating ash' in the corner." I don't want to throw it away, and I don't know how to use it. Sold as a second-hand commodity, it is both low-carbon and environmentally friendly, and can take care of the economic situation of others. And I have used it myself for a long time, I have feelings for it, and finding a new owner for it is also a psychological comfort for me. ”

Zhang Qi of Southwest University of Political Science and Law calls herself an "old player of the second-hand platform", and she expressed her willingness to buy second-hand products used by others under the condition that the physical products are 90% new, do not affect normal use and are suitable for price. "I especially like to shop for second-hand, and there will be a kind of joy of digging treasure." The most recent "treasure digging" experience was to buy a wool coat with an original price of more than 600 yuan for 120 yuan. The seller showed the purchase record, and Zhang Qi was also satisfied after receiving the physical object, so this coat is still her "favorite" until now.

In addition to shopping on second-hand platforms, Zhang Qi occasionally trades as a seller, and she has sold her own second-hand books in the school's idle item trading group, which is a way for her to achieve "open source". Zhou Li is now also insisting on selling her unwanted books on different platforms. She downloaded an app that specializes in trading second-hand books, and after selling the books, she can not only withdraw cash, but also get the platform's exclusive trading currency, and then go to the app to buy other books.

After the graduate school came ashore, Juan Ann began to share experience stickers on social platforms, and also thought of selling her review materials and reference books. "I was going to try it, but I didn't expect that as soon as it was sent out, the post was on fire, and almost every day during that time, people came to consult and buy." In the face of the inquiry of the younger sister, she also has a question to answer, pointing out the stranger at the other end of the screen.

In less than a month, Juan ann sold more than 20 notes and earned a lot of money. At the beginning of this year, Juan took out a part of it to buy her mother eye cream and air fryer, "hoping to let my family see me grow up." ”

Chen Yuxuan has also bought second-hand goods online. "After all, when electronic products are just released, the price will be more expensive, and when the trend has passed or the next generation of products is released, then buy second-hand products, you can get a value-for-money experience." After going to college, he began to take care of his own living expenses, and Chen Yuxuan always had a thought in his heart. He did a strategy on the Internet, learned some mobile phone reviews uploaded by video bloggers, understood how to see the equipment parameters, selected the right mobile phone style, and studied several second-hand trading platforms to understand whether the seller's delivery process is compliant, whether there is a quality inspection guarantee, and finally bought a mobile phone with a style and quality that satisfies him.

The mobile phone, which has undergone a complicated research and purchase process, is Chen Yuxuan's birthday gift to his mother. Although he did not yet have the ability to earn money as a student, he still wanted to surprise his mother with the living expenses he saved. Receiving this birthday surprise, my mother's initial reaction was to blame him for spending money indiscriminately. But after listening to his mother's "no need to buy", "I have a mobile phone, I don't need a new one", "you have to save money from living expenses when you buy a mobile phone", he quickly learned from some relatives that his mother had spread the story of "my son bought me a mobile phone". "Mom is still very happy, and now she has used this phone for more than two years."

Money is "spent on the blade", and the "Internet generation" fancy inherits the tradition of frugality

According to the survey of middle and young school media, 57.98% of the respondents agree with the consumption concept of "the place in the province can save the province, and the place where the money should be spent does not have to be saved", 18.37% believe that "it is necessary to save all the expenses in life as much as possible", 15.91% of the respondents believe that "not only to be frugal, but also to learn to open source", only 6.51% of the respondents believe that there is no need to be too frugal in the case of sufficient living expenses.

Spending money on the blade of a knife – Yao Ran describes his consumption philosophy this way. This is also the reason why she is willing to accept some online promotion models. In her opinion, there is no need to save money to buy cheap things that she doesn't like, and college students save money to "spend better." "Some commodities may have inflated prices or fluctuate." Yao Ran found that the price of some costumes fluctuates with the different sales time, and there are different degrees of premium. Zhang Qi concluded that on the one hand, saving money is to save money and spend it where they feel it is worthwhile, on the other hand, they are unwilling to pay for some commodities that are arbitrarily priced and over-premium.

If the daily single online purchase exceeds 100 yuan, he will think about whether there is any "equal replacement". In every balance of income and expenses, he was able to save a deposit every month. Every season, Liu Shengqian would use the money to buy new clothes.

In Chen Yuxuan's concept of consumption, thrift and thrift, and living within one's means are the fine traditions handed down from the elders. "Although I don't need to 'cut down on food' in terms of eating and wearing, I will not buy some products that involve piracy and quality problems." But where I can get the discount, I will still be able to save and spend the money I save in more valuable places. ”

According to the survey of young and middle school media, among the respondents who chose the "new frugal model" of the Internet, 58.89% were because of the limited cost of living at their disposal, 56.01% wanted to spend the money they saved in more valuable places, 39.19% thought that the low-carbon and money-saving form was not happy, 36.73% thought that thrift and thrift were their own consistent virtues, and 27.87% of the respondents first learned about the preferential way through some network channels and wanted to try it. Respondents will use the money saved to buy other things they like and need (69.47%), or save it (60.69%), and some respondents will use this money to travel, entertain, and use it as love funds.

According to the survey, respondents believe that when adopting the "new frugal model" of the Internet, they need to choose a regular platform to avoid being pitted due to the irregularity of the platform (84.84%); rational consumption, avoid coveting cheap purchases of unneeded items (66.20%); do not blindly look for online open source channels to avoid being exploited by fraudsters (60.06%); and avoid wasting too much time in the complex discount model (38.12%).

Juan An also admitted that he often "couldn't stop the car" in the face of shopping offers, and bought a lot of things that he couldn't use. "3 9-2 hairpins, 5 5-3 headbands, and all kinds of cheap and beautiful stud earrings are really hard not to be impulsive." She also realized that considering demand and rational consumption is still a compulsory course for herself, and avoiding the "low-cost good things" purchased on a whim are likely to become "ashes" facing idleness or waste.

Fan Jiajia of Wuhan University once bought fake goods on the second-hand platform because of "cheap figures", in order to avoid losses, she successively applied for a refund from the seller, complained to the platform, and finally recovered the payment. "But the whole process is very troublesome." Fan Jiajia reflected on her own experience, "The pursuit of saving money also needs to polish your eyes, not blindly save." ”

(At the request of the interviewees, Zhu An'an, Yao Ran, Zhang Yuanyuan, Zhang Qi, Zhou Li, and Fan Jiajia are pseudonyms)

China Youth Daily, China Youth Network trainee reporter Bi Ruoxu, Wang Junli, intern Peng Xin Source: China Youth Daily