Personalized consumption is on the rise.
With the continuous improvement of residents’ consumption power and the further upgrading of consumption structure, more and more people favor personalized, diversified and quality consumption. How to make consumers "love consumption" is becoming a key proposition to boost consumption and expand domestic demand.
"Spiritual self-satisfaction" has become a consumption trend.
Generation z, born in 1995 ~ 2009, is a group often mentioned in the current consumer market. According to statistics, there are about 251 million post-1995 generations in China. With the Z generation stepping into the workplace and gradually increasing their income, they have become a powerful growth point in the consumer market.
The recently released Report on Consumption Trends in China in 2024 (hereinafter referred to as the Report) holds that the top ten consumption trends in 2024 are prudence and shrewdness, spiritual self-admiration, outward exploration, fireworks narration, minimal quality, convenience and enjoyment, quintessential health preservation, value reconstruction, young experience and sustainable brand.
According to the Report, spiritual self-satisfaction has become a consumption trend that people pay more and more attention to, that is to say, consumers pay more and more attention to their own experiences and feelings. Specific to modern young consumer groups, it is paying more and more attention to personalized experience. "They pursue not only the quality of products or services themselves, but also whether they can reflect their own values and personality characteristics in the process of consumption. They expect merchants to provide customized and differentiated products and services to meet their individual needs, such as customized products, exclusive service experience, and strong brand interaction. " Xiao Mingchao, founder and CEO of Zhimeng Consulting, explained.
In terms of consumption concept, young people are no longer satisfied with "popularization", but pursue "minority" and "personalization". They are willing to pay a higher premium for this kind of experience, and are more willing to share their unique consumption experience through social media and other channels to show their personal taste and lifestyle. "Therefore, for enterprises, understanding and meeting the needs of young consumers for personalized experience is an important way to enhance brand influence and enhance user stickiness and loyalty." Xiao Mingchao said.
Cultural tourism consumption with a sense of ceremony
During the New Year’s Day holiday in 2024, the tourism market was full of sense of ceremony.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism proposed that the tourism and leisure of New Year’s Day holiday shifted from traditional scenic spots to urban parks and theme parks. Driven by the demands of parent-child entertainment, cultural experience and outdoor sports, urban parks, theme parks and commercial blocks became the main scenes of New Year’s Day holiday culture and tourism and leisure.
According to the consumption data of New Year’s Day holiday released by Meituan, the orders for leisure and play, such as partying, cooking tea around the stove and Livehouse, increased by 225% year-on-year. Theme parks represented by Harbin Ice and Snow World, Shanghai Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing are the most concerned by young consumers.
In addition, personalized consumption has also become a "label" for young people to celebrate New Year’s Day. According to the big data of Ma Honeycomb, fireworks and music are the standard for welcoming the New Year atmosphere. During the New Year’s Day in 2024, the popularity of "New Year’s Fireworks" and "New Year’s Concert" rose by 187% and 249% respectively.
Visiting temples in Meta-Universe is also popular among young people. In order to welcome the New Year, Beijing Tanzhe Temple Scenic Area moved the scenic spot online with the help of digital technology, and built a "Meta-Universe Blessing Hall" on the whale exploration platform. Users can move the cursor on the mobile phone screen, that is, they can enter the gate from the first perspective and approach every corner to "fish", "allusions" and hang "blessing cards".
In terms of cultural consumption, concert fires and cinemas also performed brilliantly. According to the statistics of the National Film Bureau, the total box office of movies during the New Year’s Day holiday in 2024 (from December 30, 2023 to January 1, 2024) was 1.533 billion yuan, setting a new record for the same period.
Fu Yifu, a senior researcher at Xingtu Financial Research Institute, said that on New Year’s Day this year, there is a strong sense of ritual consumption, and young people are more willing to spend in groups of three or five, such as watching concerts, soaking in hot springs, going to amusement parks, partying, playing in secret rooms, and drinking tea around the stove. This shows that young people’s consumption needs have undergone more novel changes, and they also have higher requirements for consumption scenarios and consumption quality. At the same time, it also shows that young people are more willing to socialize and are more willing to strengthen their emotional ties with friends during holidays. All walks of life should realize that young people have become a force that can not be ignored in leading the consumer market, and they have a sharper and faster insight into and keep up with the consumption needs of young people.
Multi-fashion clothing consumption
In recent years, the trend of clothing consumption has been evolving. From the return of traditional clothing to the rise of more diversified styles, and then to the concern for materials and fabrics, clothing consumption has become more personalized.
On the one hand, fashion styles tend to be diversified. Since 2023, styles such as "Dopamine", "Maillard" and "New Chinese Style" have become hot, reflecting the diversity of contemporary fashion and the younger generation’s pursuit of personalized expression. These unique styles are not only the change of clothing collocation, but also the display of life attitude and cultural symbols. Consumers’ understanding of fashion gradually goes beyond simply following the trend, paying more attention to expressing personality and emotion through clothing, and the clothing style is more changeable.
It is noteworthy that traditional costumes with classical aesthetics, such as Hanfu and Tangzhuang, have been popular among consumers in recent years. The data shows that the turnover of Hanfu and Xiuhe clothes increased by 376% and 212% respectively, and the number of consumers of men’s Tang suits increased by more than 90%. The popularity of national fashion clothes is a manifestation of people’s recognition of traditional culture, individuality and cultural self-confidence.
On the other hand, consumers’ attention to materials and fabrics has promoted the quality upgrade of the fashion industry. "Soft and comfortable", "not easy to deform", "multi-color optional" and "windproof and warm" have become popular clothing keywords, highlighting consumers’ high requirements for clothing quality. This concern for quality is not only reflected in the appearance, but also shows the importance of wearing feelings and environmental protection characteristics of clothing. While facing the quality challenge, the fashion industry also pays more attention to sustainable development and research and development of new materials, providing consumers with higher quality and more environmentally friendly fashion items.
With the increasing demand and taste of consumers, more and more people care about the cultural connotation and brand concept behind clothing, and pay more attention to the fit with their own values when choosing clothing. How to maintain inheritance in innovation, uniqueness in diversity and quality in fashion will become an important topic for the future development of clothing industry.
Sports consumption of minority trend
In 2023, the sports consumption market flourished. Sports events such as Chengdu Universiade and Hangzhou Asian Games have ignited the national sports craze, with the rapid development of minority trend sports and the iterative upgrading of specialized sports equipment … Consumers are constantly expanding new sports, and diversified sports activities and sports demands press the fast forward button to release the vitality of the sports consumption market.
Sports equipment innovation and upgrading, refinement, specialization, fashion and intelligence lead the trend. With the diversification of consumers’ sports needs, sports products with directional functions that fit consumers’ subdivided sports scenes emerge one after another, such as marathon professional running shoes and cross-country running shoes that are suitable for different running scenes.
At the same time, sports equipment is more professional and fashionable. For example, hard equipment such as road cars emphasizes professionalism and continues to improve in product function, material and technology content. Soft equipment such as cycling clothes pay more attention to fashion design on the basis of practicality.
Skiing, equestrian, golf and other minority sports have become popular. In the past two years, the public’s enthusiasm for participating in skiing has continued to rise, and the number of skiers has increased year by year, which has led to the fiery development of the ski equipment consumption market, and the turnover of ski goggles, ski pants, ski shoes, ski clothes and other products has increased substantially. Consumers are also constantly expanding their sports preferences and unlocking new ways of sports. For example, Tai Ji Chuan, Baduanjin and other traditional Chinese sports are no longer exclusive to middle-aged and elderly people, and more and more "post-90s" or even "post-00s" join the national health care team early.
Sports consumption plays an increasingly prominent role in expanding domestic demand and helping to build a new development pattern. It is crucial to accelerate the cultivation of sports consumption and release long-term potential energy. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously improve sports facilities and combine high-quality sports events to further stimulate the enthusiasm of the whole people to participate in sports.
In this context, relevant enterprises should pay close attention to the new changes and new features of consumers’ sports demand, constantly innovate product research and development, and launch more professional products to meet the sports demand, so as to stimulate the vitality of the sports market.
Pet economy promotes new business forms.
With the growing number of pet owners and diversified consumption patterns, the consumption related to pets is also more intelligent and high-end, and pet owners spend generously for pets, which has prompted the "pet economy" to heat up and become a new consumption growth point in the market.
The vigorous development of pet economy has spawned some new occupations, such as pet beautician, pet trainer, and pet health nurse practitioner. The emergence of these new occupations provides more professional and comprehensive services for pets, and also provides more employment opportunities for practitioners.
"This dog often excretes at home, and it can be excreted at the designated place after three to five days of training." Liu Xin, a pet trainer, said that their profession can provide professional guidance and help for pet anxiety, biting and excretion training. At the same time, it can also provide targeted training and care for different pets’ personalities and characteristics.
"Emerging pets like honeybees need to exercise their courage a little bit. From short distance to long distance, to flying in the air, they need professional technical training." Liu Xin introduced that they can also provide personalized training services for different families. With the sustained development of the pet economy, their professional scope will continue to expand, providing better services for pets and pet owners.
In addition to pet food and clothing supplies, various smart pet supplies are also necessary for pet owners. "This locator is very good, the location is very accurate, and the functions are relatively complete. It can also record at any time. You can hear the sounds around the dog through your mobile phone, so you don’t have to worry about finding the dog anymore." Ms. Zhang talks about the benefits of smart pet locator. "Last month, I also spent 366 yuan to buy an automatic feeder, which can control the amount and time of food on the mobile App. A mobile phone can be realized as a one-click’ plus meal’ for pets."
"Everyone knows that raising a child requires food, clothing, housing and transportation. In fact, raising a pet is the same, and even more investment is needed." Xiaomi, who has been a pet for many years, said, for example, buying cat food and dog food costs more than 200 yuan a month, which is only the foundation. They also need snacks to supplement, and a can of snacks with more than 20 yuan can only be eaten once. Cats need to exercise, and a cat rack can reach thousands of dollars. Water basins, rice basins, special toiletries for pets, etc., often cost hundreds to thousands of yuan, as well as drugs to eliminate mites.
With the improvement of people’s living standards, the consumption of pet industry is also escalating, and pet owners are "never soft" in pet consumption. According to the relevant data of Whale Staff E-commerce Data Analysis Platform, in October 2023 alone, the sales volume of pet goods on JD.COM platform was nearly 14 million yuan, up about 5% year-on-year.
Consumption changes from "following the crowd" to "having an attitude"
Consumption is the ultimate goal and direct driving force of production, the direct embodiment of people’s needs for a better life, and an important link in building a new development pattern.
Under the guidance of the development of science and technology, the consumption channels are more diversified and convenient, and the user experience needs are further met. The new consumption mode represented by live broadcast and group purchase brings a brand-new consumption experience. Mobile phones build a bridge between consumers and businesses, and consumption is no longer limited to buying behavior, but also has additional functions such as socialization, interaction and leisure.
In the past, the popularity of a product or service was often not known until the sales data came out. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and other information technologies, more and more enterprises have moved all the links of design, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and sales to the "cloud", which can not only accurately capture the demand data of consumers, but also get user feedback in the first time.
At the same time, the growing of the domestic middle class and the rising of per capita disposable income make the number of high-grade and demanding consumers increase. In line with this trend, emerging consumption, such as online consumption, customized consumption, experience consumption and smart consumption, has a strong momentum, and consumption is also changing from "following the crowd" to "having an attitude".
It is reported that consumers in China spend more and more on entertainment, travel and shopping. Middle-income groups are more willing to buy niche goods that can reflect their own personality and taste, experience services in places with good style and environment, and participate in small-scale activities that they are interested in. Various retail markets, pubs, theaters, indoor sports and other formats have become new ways of gathering and entertainment, and new retailing such as health services and pet consumption has become popular.
At the same time, in today’s high-end goods are no longer "rare", people’s consumption has shifted from "face" to "lining", and the essence of goods and the experience it brings are the core values they pursue.
In the past, brand-name clothing, handbags, ornaments and other external products decorated with "face" became the hot spots of consumption pursuit. Nowadays, people are increasingly favoring beauty cosmetics, personal care products and health care products, creating a good complexion and creating a comfortable and tasteful self-image, so that they can truly gain self-confidence and satisfaction.
Returning to the "home" environment, creating a comfortable living space and building an important part of quality consumption. Whether it is to create a quality living environment for themselves through furniture, gardening supplies and smart home appliances, or to buy electronic products and game machines to entertain themselves, people hope to enrich their spare time and meet their spiritual needs by creating a sense of daily life and ritual.
Looking forward to 2024, meeting consumers’ personalized, diversified and quality needs, and promoting the continuous optimization and upgrading of new formats and new supplies will be an important direction and starting point for further releasing consumption potential. The consumer market will surely show a strong recovery momentum in the new year.