The University of Chicago China Forum was held recently, and the forum was divided into several major angles of "Macroeconomics", "New Energy Technology", "Biomedicine", "Consumption", "Capital Market" and "NFT Art", and big coffee from all walks of life from all walks of life from all walks of life gathered online.
Among them, the "consumption" section takes "new consumption and new demand" as the theme, with the development of the service industry and the impact of the epidemic on life, consumer demand is experiencing tremendous changes and the online economy continues to heat up. Platforms such as e-commerce, live broadcasting and short video provide a new space for the development of the individual economy.
Where is the "new" of new consumption
"From 1978 to 1996, it was a period of enlightenment in the market, when most of them were old brands, and they were mainly based on daily necessities, and there were not many new market-oriented brands. From 1997 to 2009, to the transformation stage of the market, on the one hand, related to China's accession to the WTO, on the other hand, brand awareness began to increase, many manufacturers of brands appeared, the supply side of the products, durability and cost-effectiveness has become a particularly important reference index for consumers. Then, an important stage began, from 2010 to 2015, because of the PC Internet and consumer goods, e-commerce platforms rose, began to gradually have some branded and personalized consumer goods, especially focus on quality. The biggest change is from 2016 to 2021, which I think is the explosive stage of new consumer brands, characterized by the emergence of new formats in an endless stream, especially the rapid rise of domestic brands with the help of short videos and live broadcasts. Public data show that the per capita disposable income of residents in the country was 14,500 yuan in 2011, and in 2021, the figure reached 35,000 yuan, an increase of very large, and the total retail sales of social consumer goods have changed from more than 1 trillion yuan 10 years ago to more than 4 trillion yuan now, a huge change. Yang Yudong, editor-in-chief of first finance and economics, believes that the characteristics of new consumption are first, involving the problem of demographic dividend, and the other is the pull of digital infrastructure and policies, from B2C to C2B, new marketing plays a very big role.
Lu Xiuqiong, a global expert partner in consumer goods at Bain & Company, believes that new consumption is based on the change in consumption habits brought about by the awakening of a new generation of consumers' self-awareness, and the biggest change is the business model that leads the consumer market, from the mass circulation orientation to the demand-driven circle. "The key word in the new consumption era is the demand-driven circle, the so-called C2B, must be a user-oriented, really focus on consumers, with innovative products and experiences and consumers three views of empathy." In essence, the business logic is the business logic of the linkage of demand over supply, and people and goods empathize. The biggest difference between old consumption and new consumption is actually from B2C to C2B. Lu Xiuqiong said.
Changes in new consumption
As the Internet continues to iteratively upgrade, new consumption areas have also been changing.
In Lu Xiuqiong's view, the increase in supply chain costs is very obvious, especially under the uncertainty of the epidemic, capital returns to rationality, from overheating to calm, but not ebbing tide. "In the past 1 to 2 years, there are a lot of capital to take advantage of the wave of new consumption to join together, trying to take a fast shortcut, in this wave of process, there are a large number of entrepreneurs rely on ODM supply chain development, Internet traffic method play, rapid iteration, marketing to spend money to earn short-term performance." Under such an innovation shortcut, consumers, entrepreneurs and capital parties often confuse long-term brands with short-term marketing. For the capital side, the biggest advantage is that they really concentrate on doing a good job and believe in the track of consumption, and the long-term capital will still stay and carefully investigate. The whole advice for all new consumer brands, I think first, survive this year; second, adhere to long-termism, do not make easy choices, do not take shortcuts. ”
Zhou Lingfei, founding partner of Ance Capital, said that since the second half of last year, the valuation and heat of the capital market for new consumption has returned to rationality, not only the epidemic, but also the erasure of many bubbles. From the past search-based e-commerce, to the current recommended e-commerce marketing play. Returning to rationality, it is "fever", but it does not mean that the capital market does not invest, and Huangce Capital will still look at new consumer enterprises and will still pay attention to investment in this direction.
Li Qianling, CEO of JLL Greater China, founder of the Beixi Investment Consortium and host of the Beiwanglu podcast, said: "China has a very large population base, and public data shows that if these 1.4 billion people are disassembled, the population aged 16-59 is more than 800 million, and the population over 60 years old is about 260 million. If you look at the population aged 16-59, there is a new generation, from 1995 to 2009, the population born in this stage, we define it as the new generation, this population has more than 200 million, and the silver-haired new generation, the population over 60 years old, which is also a very large base, but also more than 200 million. Just by disassembling it into these several intervals, he wants to choose a brand today, and the entry point of a product is not the same. The new generation requires personalization, and personalization should produce a lot of vertical products, and should be a product that is dug deeper. There is also a range that is relatively neglected and has not been developed, that is, the new generation of silver hair, and new consumption should be constantly updated with changes in population and structural changes. ”
New consumption trends and futures
In Yang Yudong's view, new consumption is "reducing fever" on the one hand, and at the same time, there are some rigid needs that are particularly worthy of attention. "We can see that there are a lot of sub-categories, and we are seriously focusing on some of the small areas of the subdivision. For example, some young people living alone, lazy people have a particularly large demand, China has a population of 92 million people living alone, there is a lot of consumer demand, of course, there are many women's consumption demand, the needs of the elderly and so on. Some market segments, such as camping, have created a new demand, as well as small household appliances, plant-based food and beverage, and other segments. Many companies are not just doing brand marketing, but are seriously doing products, so in addition to looking at the tide, the new needs, new pain points, and new trends in the field of segmentation are also particularly worthy of our attention. ”
Yang Yudong further said that the first thing for new consumer brands to focus on now is how to create a sustainable business model and ecology, especially to establish a new type of service to meet the needs of new consumers, especially a very good experience to meet the needs of the experience, only good experience and service, is the king of competition.
"How to create a sustainable business ecosystem? The new consumer brand itself should continue to evolve and iterate, while perfecting its digital system and operational methodology. It is also necessary to establish a new type of consumer experience and service, which is not only the experience of the product itself, but also the channel of the goods itself and the management method of the user. Relying on marketing to achieve short-term growth is very undesirable, through technology-driven to create product core competitiveness, cut into a new incremental track, in order to redefine the value of the brand, this is the way to sustainable growth in the future. Yang Yudong analyzed.