I don't know if you have noticed, the "red envelope war" in this year's WeChat group is completely dumb, what about the red envelope rain that is good?
This phenomenon is really surprisingly consistent, almost all WeChat groups have disappeared red envelopes, a change from the previous years that red envelopes are flying all over the sky, lively and extraordinary.
Open your phone and glance at various WeChat groups, and you will find that this almost surprisingly consistent tacit understanding really makes people feel like they are in a different world.
In the past, every Chinese New Year, the WeChat group turned into a sea of joy, and the lively scene like the red envelope relay race seemed to have become a customary custom.
Regardless of whether it is a group of relatives, classmates, or a company work group, the red envelopes always come as promised, no matter how big or small, the heart and excitement make the WeChat group instantly become the main battlefield of the red envelope carnival.
In particular, the leaders of the company made generous moves, not only red envelopes one after another, but also accompanied by warm blessings, igniting the enthusiasm of the entire group chat.
However, this year, this red envelope craze has suddenly cooled down, and in all WeChat groups, red envelope activities have died down, and even a simple greeting has become rare.
The company's leaders are no exception, the figure that once took the lead in sending red envelopes has disappeared, and only quiet silence is left in the WeChat group.
You must know that even during the epidemic in the first two years, although offline activities were restricted, the distribution of online red envelopes has never stopped, and it has become a new way for many people to connect with emotions and convey blessings.
However, this year, this red envelope craze came to an abrupt end, and everything returned to normal, as if everyone had reached some kind of consensus in an instant, no longer passing blessings through red envelopes, but choosing to spend the Spring Festival in a more restrained way.
What is going on with this amazing tacit understanding? Is it because the pressure on everyone's life has increased, and the wallet has been tightened? Or is it gradually realizing that the maintenance of family and friendship should not rely solely on the number of red envelopes?
Or is it that you have a deeper understanding and reflection on the red envelope culture, are tired of "digital" blessings, and want to return to a more sincere and simple traditional way?
The reason for this is largely related to the current stress of life.
The changes in the economic environment and the decline in income have made many people think more about the reality of balance when facing red envelopes, and they are no longer free and easy in the past.
After all, behind every red envelope, there is a real dedication and the accumulation of bits and pieces of life.
At the same time, with people's in-depth understanding of electronic red envelopes and blessings, perfunctory electronic blessings are becoming more and more unpopular.
Many people are beginning to realize that the true blessing is not in the size of the red envelope, but in the sincerity of the heart and face-to-face conversation.
Compared with the mechanical click on the red envelope, an intimate greeting between relatives and friends and a fireside night talk can convey a strong human touch and holiday temperature.
As a result, in this year's WeChat group, everyone tacitly chose to be silent, no longer blindly following the trend to send red envelopes, but choosing to express blessings in a more simple and sincere way.
Behind this tacit understanding is a calm acceptance of the pressures of real life, and it is also a return to the essence of emotional communication between people.
This quiet WeChat group seems to tell us that there are always variables in life, and we are constantly adapting and adjusting, looking for the most suitable way for ourselves, to celebrate every festival, to cherish every gathering.
The post-"red envelope war" era
Because the "red envelope war" has become an important opportunity to leverage the card binding and popularize mobile payment, the "battle situation" of the red envelope war during the Spring Festival every year is also closely related to the changes in the pattern of the mobile payment market.
In the Spring Festival of 2014, WeChat red packets debuted, and the total number of red packets sent and received on Chinese New Year's Eve reached 16 million, with a total of more than 4 million people participating, and the total number of participating users reached 8 million from Chinese New Year's Eve to the eighth day of the new year. On Chinese New Year's Eve in 2015, the total number of WeChat red packets sent and received reached 1.01 billion, a year-on-year increase of more than 60 times; on Chinese New Year's Eve in 2016, the number of WeChat red packets participated reached 420 million, and the total number of messages sent and received reached 8.08 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7 times. So far, WeChat has completed the growth from less than 20% of the third-party mobile payment market to nearly 40%. By Chinese New Year's Eve 2017, although there was no official promotion, the number of WeChat red packets sent and received still reached 14.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 75.7%, and WeChat's market share also further climbed. At the same time, Alipay has also been struggling to fight back, and has teamed up with the Spring Festival Gala for many years to build momentum for the red envelope war.
Corresponding to the rapid increase in the number of people participating in Jifu and sending and receiving red envelopes, Alipay has maintained its mobile payment market share, which has been declining since 2014. By the Spring Festival of 2018, the new situation of the red envelope war also faintly revealed the development trend of mobile payment in the future. On the one hand, although the pattern of the two giants in the mobile payment market has existed for a long time and will be difficult to be subverted in the next few years, neither UnionPay nor these Internet giants will stop competing for the mobile payment market. Among the above-mentioned players, Suning smashed 500 million during the Spring Festival in 2018, and Toutiao took out 1 billion, which shows its determination. Since UnionPay launched the UnionPay app with major banks last year, it has been hoping to reopen the mobile payment market by integrating its own banking resource advantages. UnionPay has joined the red envelope war, and increasing mobile payment is not a variable in this industry. On the other hand, Alipay and WeChat both made way for their brother businesses this year, and both seem to be intent on keeping a low profile in this five-year war, perhaps because the entire domestic mobile payment market space has peaked.
In the absence of official activities, the number of users participating in the WeChat Spring Festival red envelope campaign reached 768 million, and the total number of active users on WeChat was only about 900 million, and almost everyone who could use WeChat was already sending and receiving red envelopes. The same is true for Alipay, where more than half of its 520 million users are involved in the red envelope war. Furthermore, the judgment of the return of the value of offline scenarios is also applicable to the red envelope war. Alipay's offline scanning of red envelopes has long become a regular item, with the collection code all over the merchants.
WeChat Pay's "New Year Shaker" for this year's Spring Festival also aims to encourage users' offline consumption. The move was once seen as Tencent's defensive move after Alipay's offline payment code reversed WeChat Pay's market share. It seems that the mobile payment war is not over yet, and the Spring Festival red envelope war will not stop.