Malatang, marathon, etc. have become out-of-the-circle passwords, and consumption hotspots have opened up new market space

China Business Daily (reporter Zhao Yiru) a bowl of 30 yuan spicy tang drove 650 yuan of consumption, a marathon created 1.571 billion yuan of urban benefits, and the new domestic products "trendy products" opened up growth space for the beauty and apparel industry...... The spring consumer market in 2024 can be described as lively.

This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to actively cultivate new consumption growth points such as smart homes, cultural and entertainment tourism, sports events, and domestic "trendy products". At present, new consumption hotspots are opening up new space for market growth.

On the morning of April 14, the 2024 Wuhan Airport International Business New City Half Marathon started. 5,000 runners from Wuhan, Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou and other places gathered in the Airport New City to appreciate the charm of the Airport New City in a happy run. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CNSPHOTO)

Internet celebrity products drive urban tourism

A special tourism product brings fire to a city and becomes the theme of this year's spring tourism market.

Gansu Tianshui, which continues to be hot because of Malatang, has seen a year-on-year increase in search volume of 2,000% from February 26 to the Qingming holiday. Tourism in other parts of Gansu is also on the rise. Qunar data shows that the ticket sales of scenic spots in Gansu Province during the Qingming holiday increased by 6.7 times year-on-year, and the ticket sales of Lanzhou, Zhangye, Jiayuguan and Longnan scenic spots increased by more than 10 times year-on-year. In terms of hotels, the number of hotel bookings in Gansu Province during the Qingming holiday increased by 3.1 times year-on-year.

Qunar data shows that during this year's Qingming holiday, Tianshui, Kaifeng, and Quanzhou were driven by the characteristic cultural tourism labels "Malatang", "Wang Po Said Media" and "Hairpin Flower Tour", and the year-on-year increase in hotel bookings reached 12 times, 4.5 times, and 3.3 times respectively.

According to the estimation of Qunar Big Data Research Institute, the per capita consumption of a meal of Tianshui Malatang is 30 yuan, which can drive the consumption of local transportation and accommodation by 650 yuan; a ticket to Kaifeng Long Live Mountain and Great Song Dynasty Martial Arts City Scenic Area is only 80 yuan, but it can drive local transportation and accommodation consumption of 850 yuan; and the experience of Quanzhou hairpin flower only costs 40 yuan, but it can drive local transportation and accommodation consumption of 900 yuan.

At the same time, last year's "Internet celebrity" tourist destination, Zibo, is still hot this year. According to data from the Tongcheng Travel Platform, during the Qingming holiday in 2024, the number of hotel bookings in Zibo will increase by 58% year-on-year, and the number of ticket bookings for scenic spots will increase by more than 8 times year-on-year.

"The quality of consumption is mainly divided into two levels, one is the rapid growth of demand for high-quality services, and the other is the pursuit of the ultimate experience, especially the increasing demand for cultural experience of tourism products. Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, told a reporter from China Business Daily, "In the face of changes in the demand side, the supply side is also iterating rapidly. On the one hand, from the iteration of resource thinking to product thinking, more and more destinations have begun to pay more attention to brand creation, market positioning, crowd segmentation and popular style building, and attach importance to promoting product development and marketing activities from the perspective of target customer groups, which not only gives birth to more and more 'Internet celebrity' destinations, but also greatly stimulates the enthusiasm of local cultural tourism consumption. On the other hand, it attaches great importance to excavating local cultural resources or introducing high-quality cultural content, and invests heavily in 'rejuvenating tourism with culture', so that some famous historical and cultural cities have taken the opportunity to iterate and update their products, and also make the city's tourism popularity steadily increase. ”

"Some of the booming towns will create more jobs for the local tourism industry and accelerate the development of the tourism industry while improving the level of tourism service personnel. At the same time, these booming cities will also drive other destinations to improve the level of tourism development, and ultimately achieve the goal of global tourism economic growth. Shen Jiani, a senior researcher at Ctrip Research Institute, told China Business Daily.

Marathons drive sports consumption

The role of large-scale sports events in stimulating urban consumption should not be underestimated. This spring, the hot marathon has ignited the sports economy of cities.

On March 24, the 2024 Wuhan Marathon started. According to incomplete statistics from the Wuhan Marathon Organizing Committee, 53,000 tourists have come to Wuhan because of the "Han Marathon". The relevant person in charge of the Wuhan Marathon Organizing Committee said that the holding of this year's Wuhan Marathon is expected to create 1.571 billion yuan of urban benefits for Wuhan, of which the economic impact on Wuhan is about 557 million yuan and the social impact on Wuhan is about 1.014 billion yuan.

At the same time, in March this year, the Wuxi Marathon created an economic benefit of up to 283 million yuan, and the per capita tourism consumption of the Nanjing Pukou Marathon reached 736 yuan, which was 1.36 times the per capita consumption of Nanjing tourists during this year's Qingming holiday.

In addition to the event, the host city has also prepared various cultural and tourism experience activities to highlight the local cultural characteristics, attract sports enthusiasts and stimulate the vitality of local consumption.

On March 31, the all-for-one marathon built in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province kicked off. At the competition site, the organizers set up a special bazaar to gather local characteristic agricultural products, delicacies and various sports equipment.

According to the Changzhou Municipal Sports Bureau, in 2024, Changzhou will launch a "Global Marathon Exclusive Benefiting the People" activity for runners and families who sign up to participate in the all-for-one marathon. All runners in the Changzhou all-for-one marathon can enjoy special policies benefiting the people such as free sports experience in the city's public stadiums, fitness annual card discounts and free health gift packages. Competitors and their families can also enjoy family sports benefits and discounts on designated hotel meals and accommodation during the event.

On April 21, the 2024 Beijing City Sub-center Marathon also started in Tongzhou District. It is reported that this year's event carnival has added intangible cultural heritage and canal culture display represented by the "Canal Handicraft Conference" brand, sports technology experience, food culture and other content. Many time-honored brands and intangible cultural heritage enterprises in Tongzhou District have joined in, allowing the public to take this opportunity to taste food and appreciate skills.

Guochao opens up a new space in the industry

In the beauty, apparel and other industries, Guochao not only brings new experiences to consumers, but also opens up new growth space for these industries.

At this year's Consumer Expo, Bloomage Biotech debuted with the theme of "Technology + Green Igniting a New National Tide", and released a new product of "BM Muscle Active Brown Rice Water 2.0". Pien Tze Huang, a time-honored Chinese brand, also brought the classic "small porcelain bottle" pearl balm, and launched Pien Tze Huang's Yurong Perfection Pearl Balm to suit more skin needs.

At the first Zhejiang Guochao Beauty Life Festival held in April this year, the exhibits had a strong "national tide flavor": "Huzhou white tea and bamboo were used in makeup", "ginseng in the eye mask", and the 24 solar terms makeup show...... Beauty products have been rejuvenated in the collision with the national trend.

Guochao beauty brands have also shown greater influence in the international market. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the annual export value of cosmetics in 2023 will reach 26.37 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.3%. Among them, exports to South Korea were 1.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 265%, and exports to Vietnam were 130 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 256%.

At the same time, clothing with traditional Chinese cultural characteristics, such as horse-faced skirts and new Hanfu, is attracting more and more attention from young consumers and has become a new trend.

According to the data of Dewu App, in the consumption of domestic "trendy products" in 2023, the post-95s and post-00s are becoming the main consumers, accounting for 82.6% of the consumption of domestic "trendy products", of which the post-00s consumption accounts for nearly 60%.

According to the "2024 Douyin E-commerce Women's Consumption Trend Data Report" released in March this year, in the past one year, the number of orders for female consumers on the platform to buy new Chinese clothing increased by 195% year-on-year, of which the number of orders for horse-faced skirts increased by 841% year-on-year, and the number of orders for Hanfu increased by 336% year-on-year.

Bian Xiangyang, a professor at Donghua University and vice chairman of the China Fashion Designers Association, believes that the rise of "national tide" clothing lies in the enhancement of Chinese cultural self-confidence. As an important carrier of culture, the design, manufacturing and brand system of clothing, which shows cultural self-confidence, is also accelerating its growth and has been recognized by the majority of consumers.