Say goodbye to "delicate poverty" and learn "exquisite flowers"
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the national consumer price index (CPI) rose by only 0.4% year-on-year in the first three quarters. This is an important indicator of consumer demand.
In the past six months, people seem to be reluctant to spend money: they are more cautious about buying cars and other bulk purchases, and only cheap and easy to use can arouse shopping enthusiasm - the rise of the sample economy, the expiring food is hot, and in the face of low-cost food full of "technology and ruthlessness", people's attitudes have also changed from questioning to accepting "it doesn't think I'm poor, I don't think it's dirty." ”
Pinduoduo, which focuses on low prices, achieved outstanding results in the second quarter, with revenue reaching 52.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 66%. "9 pieces of 9 special sale", "1 yuan 1 piece of free shipping", "good price area", "today's sale" and other low-price channels have been placed in the most conspicuous position by major e-commerce platforms. However, it still can't stop "don't buy and save 100%" from becoming a popular choice.
But at the same time, since the beginning of this year, music festivals and concerts have swept all large and medium-sized cities with more intensive performances and a more crazy sell-out rate. In July, Jay Chou held four concerts in Haikou, attracting 154,600 people, driving 976 million yuan of tourism income for Haikou, and TFBOYS's "Ten Year Covenant" concert directly drove 416 million yuan of tourism income From June 1 to August 31, the box office exceeded 20.6 billion yuan, setting a new record in Chinese film history.
Behind every consumption behavior, there are hidden changes in consumer demand in the times. Behind the seemingly contradictory consumption phenomenon, the once frenzied wave of consumption is receding. People's consumption is beginning to be based on the expectation of uncertainty about the world in which they live.
Based on this, the cost of a big purchase such as a house, a car, a mobile phone, etc., and the subsequent actual impact on the quality of life, is much greater than a short trip or a show. But this does not mean not consuming, nor does it mean that the quality of life is reduced. Faced with limited income, people are constantly trimming their spending and investing the money they save into more worthwhile things.
So what is it that they think is worth it?
1. More than 7 percent of the "post-90s" take health as the top priority in life
The tension caused by the epidemic has gone away, but the three-year epidemic life has changed young people's view of wealth to a certain extent: reducing debt, increasing savings, and actively managing money are far more worthy than maintaining a refined life through advanced consumption, and health is the greatest wealth, and we need to learn to "manage money".
If the young people who have been shouting for many years are "making up for the dead", then after the past three years, young people have formed a set of combination punches for health in the exploration. According to the McKinsey Health Consumption Guide, the "post-90s" generation between the ages of 26 and 30 have become the real main force of health preservation. More than 7 out of 10 regard health as the top priority in life, and their evaluation of their health awareness and health status has reached a peak, compared with other groups, their attention to health has increased significantly since the epidemic.
In order to "save their lives", people began to exercise. At the beginning of 2022, in the battlefield where major live bloggers competed for attention, Liu Genghong's fitness live broadcast achieved amazing results and set off a national fitness boom. A trend is such a thing that it will sweep you over whether you want it or not. Since then, lightweight outdoor sports such as land surfing, hiking, frisbee, camping, and cycling have begun to rise one after another, becoming the favorite of young people.
According to the "2022 Youth Trend Fitness Report", more than half of young people have the habit of exercising regularly, and the post-00s generation has become the most volatile athlete, exercising an average of 3.2 days a week. In addition to temporarily liberating people from the stressful life of commuting to work, exercise is more important for health. 65.4% of the respondents believe that the most important purpose of exercise and fitness is to improve physical fitness. Tmall consumption big data shows that surfing, camping, and fishing have become the new three favorites of "bankruptcy consumption" after the 90s. Hainan, Guangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang have become the most popular surfing destinations in China.
However, if you want to resist the trend of increasing cholesterol year by year on the physical examination report, you must not only "open your legs", but also "keep your mouth shut". At the moment, "You are what you eat" is becoming a consensus. People try to adjust their eating habits, such as changing the structure of their meals to try to be nutritionally balanced and eat clean food. On Douban, nearly 50,000 young people have joined the "Today is also a good day to eat" group.
When it comes to buying food, consumers are craving more information behind ingredient lists and the direct effects of complex chemical terms on the human body. Survey data shows that in large cities, more than 60% of consumers check the label of food before buying it to confirm its safety. Foods that are natural, additive-free, and contain various health labels such as probiotics for intestinal health, anthocyanins for eye protection, and sugar-free and zero-calorie are becoming more and more popular among consumers. Traditional nourishing ingredients such as chrysanthemum, ginseng, wolfberry, sesame, and ejiao are also showing commercial value that they did not have before.
2. Spend money to buy fun, and want to take the opportunity to "go crazy"
In addition to spending a lot of money for health, at a time when anxiety is rampant and "crazy literature" can be seen everywhere, emotional value has also become a new rigid need in young people's consumer life.
After experiencing the impermanence of life, people are more eager to escape from the pressure and live a happy and comfortable life. If they have to spend money, happiness is what they are most eager to buy.
That's why, despite the decline in overall consumption levels, the cultural, entertainment and leisure sectors have seen a boom. The data shows us the summer carnival that has just ended: Shanghai Hongqiao on April 28 sent to all stations across the country tickets are sold out, this is since the late Qing Dynasty in 1908 since the opening of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, all tickets at the railway station in Shanghai are sold out for the first time; May Day holiday, 200,000 people go to Zibo barbecue every day; 92 days of summer box office sales of 20.6 billion yuan, a new record in Chinese film history; in the first half of this year, lottery sales increased by 50% year-on-year , the highest growth rate in the past 15 years;The music festival ushered in the strongest National Day file,Times Finance data shows that during the 8-day holiday, the number of music festivals exceeded 60,000,000;Shanghai Disney holiday special tickets rose to 799 yuan, but it can't stop the enthusiasm of "Disney princess and prince on the run" and "return to happy hometown", the average daily reception of tourists in 2023 is as high as 40,000, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the number of tourists in a single day exceeds 70,000 for two consecutive days, popular projects have to queue for more than 3 hours, and the mainstream cost is 1000 on average between $2000 and $2000.
However, revelry is not an everyday thing. When people return to a fast-paced, high-density environment, they also need a more cost-effective way to decompress. At this moment, the answer is "go crazy".
Emotional stability was once seen as an essential quality for an adult. But the reality is: How can anyone not be crazy at work? How can there be someone who is not crazy on Monday? How can there be someone who is not crazy at 8 in the morning? In the final analysis, how can anyone not be crazy? At a time full of uncertainties and facing the dual pressure of economy and spirit, "going crazy" has become the simplest and most efficient emotional outlet for young people today.
And products that can follow the trend of "going crazy" and give emotional value are beginning to go out of the circle at an astonishing speed. In addition to the famous KFC Crazy Thursday literature, this year's IP collaboration industry's new top-notch pink beaver Loopy is a good example. It was originally a supporting role in the Korean cartoon "Little Penguin Pororo", which premiered in 2001, but it has been debuting for many years but is still niche. This year, under the second creation of netizens, its emojis began to soar all the way on the road of yin and yang, on the surface "obey the boss", and in the heart "take your life, Lao Deng", "turn this rotten world in your dreams", "Bad morning! A new day begins"... relied on the continuous catharsis of the voice of the workers to ascend to the top of the throne.
Loopy memes
As of October 25, Loopy has more than 180,000 notes on Xiaohongshu, and the Douyin hashtag #Loopy has more than 2.98 billion views. Along with the popularity, Loopy's co-branded collaborations with brands have also been launched, and related products are often sold out quickly. Lele Tea and its co-branded watermelon coconut on Children's Day achieved sales of 65,000 cups on the day it was put on the shelves. MINISO sold out on the day the Loopy series was released in July.
There are many brands that have quickly embarked on the road of "following madness", such as Luckin pinching the early eight generations of migrant workers to "go crazy", and Lele Tea has launched a series of new products called "One Punch Milkshake". People deconstruct reality distress by consuming "crazy" new products, and brands find a way to get closer to young people in "crazy" marketing.
Third, young people who are striving to be "poor ghosts" are leading the fire of the green economy
Consumption isn't just about buying things. Consumption habits reveal our desire and pursuit of life. Judging from the data, paying more attention to health and inner happiness is the answer for young people today.
Interestingly, as people continue to reflect on whether they consume too much and try to focus their limited income more on what we really need, the concept of green life, such as environmental protection and recycling, which was considered too suspended and distant in the past, has begun to quietly integrate into people's daily life.
"Picking up trash" is becoming a trend. Compared with the traditional behavior of picking up recyclable garbage such as plastic water bottles and cardboard boxes in the trash can for secondary peddling, young people's "picking up garbage" is more like a treasure hunt. The vase discarded by the aunt downstairs, the dressing mirror that the movers can't take away, the high-end bouquet in the Valentine's Day trash can, the doll discarded by the owner... More and more people are taking to the streets, picking up these "rags" and finding ways to use them, so that the items that should have been thrown away have another way to live. On Douban, more than 60,000 people have joined the "Picking up garbage is art" group, using their labor and creativity to prove that "garbage is just a treasure that has been misplaced, even if it is abandoned, it can have value." ”
A broader wave of consumption for sustainable recycling is emerging in the second-hand market. According to the data, the scale of China's second-hand idle goods trading has rapidly increased from about 300 billion yuan in 2015 to a market size of more than one trillion yuan in 2020, and the scope of idle goods trading covers almost all consumer goods categories, and it is expected to reach a market size of nearly 3 trillion yuan in 2025. According to the survey, 42.3% of consumers are willing to give priority to buying goods that can be recycled or recycled multiple times in their lives, and 79.0% of consumers can accept second-hand goods, of which electronic products are the most acceptable. In addition to the well-known online second-hand platforms such as Xianyu and Duo Catch Fish, according to Vogue Business, more and more trendy flea markets and Swap markets have become popular in places like Beijing and Shanghai, and the number of markets has almost tripled in the past two years.
At the same time, the concept of consumption that emphasizes environmental awareness has also begun to rise. According to the 2022 Low-Carbon Society Insights Report, more than half of consumers say they will consider whether the product uses environmentally friendly materials and whether the production process is pollution-free and burden-free, and Accenture's 2022 China Consumer Insight also found that 43% of respondents are willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly products, and the higher the income level, the stronger the willingness to pay for eco-friendly features, according to Meituan's official website, as of August 2023, more than 360 million users on the platform have used Meituan's "no utensils" feature.
Most of them don't necessarily start out with the goal of being eco-friendly, but more often than not, they may start trying it out of a desire to save money or to get something new. But it is precisely in practice again and again that people begin to reflect on the relationship between themselves and things, only to find that the resources wasted by one person may be able to sustain the lives of another 1-2 people, and it is in this process that the concept of sustainability and environmental protection is no longer an empty slogan, but has become a more interesting and executable life for some people.
Fourth, the elderly began to spend money for themselves
The book "Silver Generation" compares life to a drama in three acts, and old age is the third of them, which will occupy a long period of 30-40 years of our lives. But in the real business world, young people with more potential for consumption have taken up most of the attention.
But what is interesting is that with the transformation of the consumption concept towards the ultimate cost performance, young people and the middle-aged and elderly groups that have been ignored have many overlaps in consumption needs and scenarios - occupying community canteens dominated by elderly consumers, signing up for "sunset red" tour groups, and pouring into interest classes at universities for the elderly, which is ridiculed as living an affordable life for the elderly in advance.
On the other hand, the silver-haired people, their consumption trend has been farther and farther away from "slamming the door".
According to the "China Mobile Internet Semi-annual Report" released by QuestMobile in August this year, the overall user scale of the current mobile Internet has entered a stage of steady growth, and the elderly have become an important source of growth. As of June 2023, the proportion of users over 51 years old has reached 26.4%, an increase of 2.3%.
In the existing concept, the elderly group is often labeled as advocating frugality and low desire to consume. But in fact, the news of the emergence of the elderly in the field of consumption continues to refresh people's perception of the consumption trend of the elderly. According to the "2022 China Short Video Live E-commerce Development Insights", Douyin and Kuaishou account for 36.3% of users over 41 years old, 18.9% of users over 51 years old, and nearly 30% of users have a monthly online consumption capacity of more than 2,000 yuan. During the 618 shopping promotion in 2023, among the new user portraits of the integrated e-commerce platforms Taobao and Pinduoduo platforms, the post-70s population has the fastest growth rate, accounting for more than 20%. According to the first financial report, according to the survey, the retirement amount of the elderly in third-tier cities and below is 3,000-5,000 yuan/month, and the pension for the elderly in first-tier and second-tier cities is 5,000-8,000 yuan/month.
Under the influence of factors such as the Internet, social welfare and personal wealth, the consumption of the elderly has become an important growth driver of the consumer market. The consumption of the elderly is no longer limited to the field of daily necessities, and the consumption focus is shifting to tourism, beauty, fitness, food and other enjoyment consumption. JD.com data shows that in the first three quarters of 2021, the turnover of the elderly in tourism and vacation increased by more than 10 times year-on-year, the turnover of local peripheral travel and gardening life increased by more than 3 times year-on-year, and the turnover of flowers and plants and cultural toys increased by more than 50% year-on-year. Meituan data shows that in 2022, the online search popularity of "parents' wedding photos" increased by 141% year-on-year, and many businesses have launched exclusive photo photography services for the elderly.
In addition, with the promotion of digital products for the elderly and the influence of young people, more and more elderly people are beginning to be able to improve their lives in their later years through convenient services like young people. Taking Meituan as an example, Meituan data shows that in recent years, Meituan's in-store business has seen strong growth momentum in categories such as elderly care services. In 2021, the number of orders for "elderly bathing" on Meituan's platform to help the elderly take a bath increased by 12 times year-on-year. In 2022, Meituan's online search popularity for "escort service", which accompanies the elderly to see a doctor, soared by 1,152% year-on-year. At the same time, many elderly people will need to use Meituan's errand service, so that the errand boy can help pick up couriers, move things, deliver keys, etc., to solve the inconveniences in life.
However, it should be realized that the data of the seventh census shows that the population aged 60 and above in the mainland accounts for 18.7%, reaching 264 million, and this group is expected to exceed 300 million in 2025 and reach a peak of 487 million in 2053. In this extremely large group, there are bound to be huge differences in age, economic status, education level, health status, values, and other aspects. When some elderly people have been deeply connected to the Internet, not only are they healthy, can surf the Internet, love to learn, and can even take the initiative to become Internet celebrities and have their own fan groups, there are still many elderly people who may face financial or physical challenges, they may never have seen smartphones and computers, they may not know how to read, and they may still run around every day in order to survive, and they have no time to take care of other things.
In Asia's Future: Seven Groups Shaping China's Consumption Landscape, McKinsey reveals two coexisting realities: on the one hand, older Internet users are among the "seven major groups driving China's consumption growth", and the 25 million elderly people with higher incomes will directly contribute to China's growth in areas such as healthcare, housing, and leisure, but on the other hand, there are 48 million elderly people in China who spend less than US$11 (about 80 yuan) a day, and they can barely make ends meet.
Different elderly people have different consumption ability, consumption preferences and consumption intentions, and many of the needs of the elderly group have not been fully studied, and they are still in the early stage of "having a choice".