Gain insight into the changing mindset of the new generation of Chinese consumers
作者|Huaiyan 编辑|吴文卓
Image source: Shangsheng New Institute
As a new generation of consumers grows, emotions and experiences are reshaping China's retail landscape.
This shift is most vividly and intensively reflected in the place where offline consumption takes place. The endless theme market, or the art retail block that was formerly the site of the factory, and other non-standard commercial entities and the brands that fill these spaces, have become the latest and most popular consumption destinations among young consumers.
Rather than providing a consumption space, these emerging destinations are creating a consumption scene, because the word "consumption" no longer only refers to the behavior of purchasing for a single purpose, but carries more value, and is expected to be embedded in all aspects of life in a more diverse way, further making the "new five senses" composed of socialization, relaxation, atmosphere, originality, and presence become one of the important trends in the market.
In the face of a new market environment, traditional retailers are adjusting their pace. In this article, Jing Daily will start from the rise of the concept of "New Five Senses" and combine deep insights into Chinese consumer needs to explore how consumer brands and high-end shopping malls such as Hang Lung can create unique shopping experiences for customers and provide diversified scene choices, providing new inspiration for the future of retail innovation.
The new five senses lead to new consumption
Martin Lindstrom, a master of brand marketing in United States, has put forward the theory of five senses in his book "Sensory Brand", advocating that through the embodiment of color, sound, smell, taste and texture, to awaken consumers' five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, so as to stimulate the desire to buy and finally complete the purchase behavior.
However, nearly 20 years after the theory was introduced, shallow sensory stimuli have become incapable of attracting consumers' attention in the age of information overload, and the actual sensations given to people by physical properties have been replaced by the spiritual resonance of more abstract inner consciousness. To put it more simply, the stimulation of external sensory experiences has worn off, and a new generation of consumers is beginning to pursue psycho-emotional experiences.
Specifically, the new five senses include a sense of sociality, a sense of relaxation, a sense of atmosphere, a sense of originality, and a sense of presence, which in turn meet consumers' needs for interactive socialization, anxiety relief, specific scenes, original local culture, and attention and recognition.
Behind the labels summarized and refined by the industry, the new five senses are actually the embrace of emotional value and experience economy by the new generation of consumers. According to the 2023 Youth Consumption Survey, nearly half of young people are willing to pay for emotional value, and their identity has changed from users to experiencers who actively participate and immerse themselves in consumption scenarios.
The new five senses are actually the embrace of emotional value and the experience economy of the new generation of consumers.
Image source: Fanji Market
The transformation of consumer demand from material satisfaction to emotional experience is affected by multiple factors, such as the exploration of intrinsic value such as self-realization with the development of social economy, and under the mental pressure brought about by the fast-paced society, new markets such as self-pleasing economy have sprouted, which continue to increase the weight of emotional experience in consumption decisions. In essence, the emergence and popularity of the new five senses theory marks a leap in China's consumer market, that is, from primary functional consumption to higher level of consumer demand.
Emotional value
The next decisive point in brand retail
When we shift our focus from the macro to the specific case, it is not difficult to find that from the perspective of the brand, a retail strategy that focuses on emotional value can first resonate with consumers and build a long-term and deep connection with them. From another point of view, under the market trend of rational consumption, unique competitiveness is the foundation of brand survival, and the irreproducibility of emotional value can establish differentiated market perception for brands in homogeneous competition.
Perhaps due to specific product attributes, the beauty and fragrance categories tend to be better at building emotional value. For example, the publication of the "Atlas of Mountain and Wild Herbs", the holding of the "Evolution of Local Things" exhibition "Partial to Tiger Mountain", and the "Eastern Oasis Cooperative" created for villagers in Yunnan Province, etc., through the emphasis on the humanistic attributes of its products and brands, to establish a three-dimensional market image for consumers, thus generating a deep complex.
East Beast Herb Parade Shanghai Station
Image Credit: Beasts of the East
This kind of emotional value shaping not only exists in the terminal retail stores, but also is transmitted through the core brand concept and brand spirit. When functional value spills over and consumption evolves as a way to express oneself and derive satisfaction from it, such as social and existential satisfaction, emotional resonance may become a key driver of consumption decisions.
Experience is paramount
The customs clearance code of high-end commercial entities
As mentioned above, although the traditional five senses also emphasize experience, the latter still exists as an auxiliary means to stimulate product sales, but in the new five senses era, the importance of experience has greatly jumped, and scene consumption under the experience economy has even replaced physical goods as the core. Under the new market order, the original single role of traditional high-end shopping malls is obviously facing challenges, and how to evolve from a place where shopping behavior occurs to an important carrier of leading lifestyles has become a new topic for real estate developers.
When the tide of standardized consumption ebbs, the focus of high-end commercial entities needs to be inclined to customized consumption, which not only includes the experience upgrade of shopping services, but also means that real estate developers need to create dialogue opportunities with consumers with the help of different experience activities to enhance customer stickiness.
Adhering to the service tenet of "customer-oriented", Hang Lung Properties, a leading high-end real estate developer, has stepped up the experience economy in the past two years, injecting narrative into the commercial space, building diversified consumption scenarios, mobilizing consumer enthusiasm, and creating differentiated competitive advantages.
On the one hand, the creation of the narrative space of the mall strengthens the interaction with consumers with the assistance of interesting links, and provides them with additional emotional value through the shaping of the scene-based shopping environment.
For example, in April this year, Hang Lung Plaza around the world will present colorful themed celebrations, such as Shanghai Hang Lung Plaza incarnated as a "Spring Sports Arena" that combines adventure and trend, Dalian Hang Lung Plaza "Flower Dream Travel" annual event with fresh colors and dream gardens, and Wuxi Hang Lung Plaza created a spring peach paradise based on the original art IP image of Wuxi's specialty peach, DoroBear.
Wuxi Henglong Plaza creates a themed installation exhibition with the original art IP image of Tornage Bear.
Image source: Hang Lung Properties
On the other hand, the intersection of the narrative space with humanistic and artistic activities further enhances Hang Lung's competitiveness in the high-end lifestyle segment and creates a concrete connection with the real lives of consumers.
In May this year, at the 520 event at Hang Lung Plaza in Shanghai, talk show actors, well-known bloggers, and actors of the musical "The Myth of Love" brought surprise programs to consumers. From July 5 to September 1, Hang Lung Properties collaborated with five Hang Lung Plazas in Wuhan, Dalian, Kunming, Jinan and Tianjin to launch the "Summer of Art" summer themed event, based on the works of Argentina artist Bernardo Henning, presenting an interactive space with a strong sense of fashion and fashion through graffiti, leading a new trend of urban sports. At the same time, the "City Dream · Art Season" created by Shanghai Hang Lung Plaza invited a number of well-known artists and art institutions at home and abroad to interpret the theme of "Dream" from different perspectives such as urban, natural and scientific, and inspire people to explore the balance and integration of society, life and self. Shenyang Imperial City Hang Lung Plaza also held the "66 Hang Lung Music Festival" this summer weekend, bringing unprecedented audio-visual enjoyment to the grand outdoor music feast. In addition, GREENEXT, a sustainable lifestyle and a commitment to driving sustainable change, will also be held at Shanghai Hang Lung Plaza and Wuxi Hang Lung Plaza in the summer.
Five Hang Lung Plazas in mainland China jointly launched the "Summer of Art" summer theme activities.
Image source: Hang Lung Properties
When consumption becomes a projection of its own social value, new market demand is reshaping the retail ecology. Products and services that meet the needs of a single functional product and service are no longer paid for by the market, and these strategic plans that closely follow the concept of the new five senses may become the key to the innovation of brands and commercial real estate developers, and they are also the future retail normal.