Consumption trend in 2024： consumption returns to value and significance, and returns to the era of genuine goods.

2023 is called the year when low prices prevailed. From the price dispute between 9.9 yuan and 8.8 yuan, to the super "moving mountain price" of retailers, and then to the price of rolling technical paper in the automobile industry, the price war has hit several dollars of coffee from hundreds of thousands of cars, and consumers have gone from price comparison, bonus hunter to various "rubs" in one go. All kinds of phenomena reveal a reality: consumers are becoming more and more sober and savvy. Consumer confidence began to tend to be conservative, consumers became more rational and calm, began to think more and precipitate more, and wanted to make every penny more meaningful.

　

Rationality and calmness have become the key considerations in consumption decision-making.

　

In the era of smart consumption, making correct consumption decisions and improving the quality of life have become the core demands of consumers. In the process of actively choosing a higher quality of life, the underlying consumption logic of "simpler, more authentic, longer and safer" is highly respected, and rationality and calmness have become the key considerations in consumption decisions.

　

Zhimeng’s survey of China’s consumption trends in 2024 shows that the overloaded and busy life has made many consumers start to think about making life simpler and more quality by reducing the material demand and the pace of life. Consumers are beginning to reduce their burdens in material, ideological, social and information aspects and practice a minimalist lifestyle. 60.0% of consumers began to stay away from gossip and negative energy junk information, 58.7% of consumers began to accept their imperfections, 53.1% of consumers began to clean up unnecessary items at home regularly, and consumers went from complexity to simplicity and gradually enriched themselves.

　

Exquisite life and cheapness do not conflict, which reflects the contemporary consumers’ re-examination of self-demand and the change of life attitude. For consumers, the criterion of high cost performance is no longer limited to "low price", but attaches importance to practicality and durability. "Buy less, buy fine and use for a long time" has become a new purchasing guide for consumers. The data shows that more than 70% consumers will choose expensive but quality and durable products for their frequently used products.

　

Under the uncertainty of future income, everyone has gradually started a profound "self-awakening" of "active+passive", and consumers are constantly pursuing the certainty of consumption and seeking a sense of security in life. Do not be greedy for a moment’s quickness, make a strategy before consumers, get everything ready before going out, pursue a visible sense of security in food, choose a sound financial management method in savings, think twice, think carefully, go slow and act wisely, and consumers make the most suitable decision according to their own needs and changing circumstances. The data shows that before shopping, consumers will search and compare through multiple platforms, read comments and scores in detail, and fully investigate and compare.

　

Rationality and calmness have become the key considerations in consumption decision-making. While consumers save their budgets, people’s pursuit of quality of life has not changed. People are more willing to pay for a high-quality and well-designed product instead of buying a bunch of cheap and easily damaged items, and consumption returns to the value of the product itself.

　

Evolution of business trends under prudence and shrewdness

　

With the uncertainty of the market, consumers begin to re-examine the meaning of consumption, evaluate what is important to them, think about what they really need, be more prudent and smart in consumption decision-making, and constantly construct a new philosophy of happiness to ensure that consumption can get more valuable enjoyment.

　

Prudent and shrewd, "conspicuous consumption" began to ebb, and practical and functional consumption was favored by the public. Instead of blindly following the trend or impulsive consumption, people will carefully think about their own needs and choose products that are really suitable and necessary. The data shows that 56.0% of consumers only buy the goods they need and need, and 46.6% of consumers start to reduce their hoarding behavior and buy them after using them up.

　

　

With the development of society, young people’s personal values have also changed, and they have begun to pay for self-enrichment, spending to enrich life and time, rather than consuming life and time. Among contemporary young people, there is a kind of reverse consumerism, trying to master the autonomy of consumption, focusing on "the province and the flower", not being bound by materialism, defining the direction of choice independently, and attaching importance to inner satisfaction and self-realization, rather than obtaining happiness through material consumption.

　

Products are not only satisfied with possession and acquisition, but also pay attention to emotional satisfaction, life witness and self-construction. Consumption has become the key way for people to gain social recognition and satisfy their sense of self-worth. According to the survey, consumers want to relax and decompress, and get a sense of quality of health and life through consumption, accounting for 56.0%, 55.9% and 46.4% respectively. Consumption is moving towards a relatively conservative state, returning to value and significance, that is, returning to the era of cost performance, returning to good quality and low price, and returning to genuine goods.

　

Prudent and shrewd business application strategy

　

More rational and prudent consumers have begun to actively identify and pursue the intrinsic value of goods, and the market has officially entered a new stage of development. Facing the real challenge of the environment, brands need to point to the real demand of consumption and give full play to the real strength of brands, and everything related to consumption is "true". Brands need to return to the "true heart", truly let products bring consumers a sense of spiritual richness and focus on "true needs", make efforts to gain insight into the real needs of consumers, pursue "true value", bring consumers additional significance and social communication values, pay attention to "true quality", and provide consumers with more sensible and more delicate quality.

　

Strategy 1: Show "Worth Perceiving"

　

When it comes to beauty brands in China, Polaiya is undoubtedly one of the most dazzling companies in 2023. According to the latest battle report released by Tmall Beauty, during the double 11 event in 2023, Polaiya surpassed L ‘Oré al, Lancome, Estee Lauder and other international first-line brands, ranking first in the brand report card of beauty industry, and the same eye-catching achievements also appeared on the vibrating platform.

　

Looking back on the 20-year growth process of Polaiya, we will find that it is an enterprise that is good at grasping the trend and full of tenacity. At the channel level, from the offline CS channel to the shelf e-commerce era, and then to the high-speed flying in the live e-commerce era, Polaiya has always been forward-looking and insightful about all the new channel changes, and made timely updates and adjustments to make it always lead the consumption trend. At the product level, Polaiya has embarked on the road of domestic scientific and technological innovation by deeply integrating global raw materials, R&D and production resources. The successful big single product strategy occupied the market, and while continuously prolonging the product life cycle, it completed the transformation from the mass to the middle and high-end market from the perfect replacement of international brands.

　

In the construction of brand power, we started from the public issues, opened the traffic password that entered the public view, and cooperated with Focus Media, which covered the middle and high-end mainstream people in the city, and reached the big single product in the offline position and accumulated continuous cognitive assets, realizing the product-effect synergy from online traffic to offline high-quality communication, and completing the road of transcendence from "following" to "leading".

　

Strategy 2: convey "personal meaning"

　

Today, consumers are more rational and pursuing certain consumption. For many consumers, fashion and trend are not necessarily high-end atmosphere and exquisiteness, but heartfelt relaxation, which is a simple and high-quality life. The main body of all this is "I", and consumers pay more attention to the brand’s personal significance to them. The emotional value of the brand will become more and more important. Decathlon saw this, which made it born in France in 1976 and entered China in 2003.

　

"Outdoor equipment is too expensive, and you have to prepare 10,000 yuan before you leave home. First, you have to experience the fun of outdoor, but you have made difficulties in buying equipment. The brand is too expensive for novices, and the non-brand is afraid of poor quality." Many consumers said that the first step in outdoor is to buy equipment, and the tangled selection, low cost performance and uncertain quality are often the most common problems when selecting equipment. However, with Decathlon, these problems are solved.

　

At the beginning of Decathlon’s establishment, the brand positioning was locked in "providing sports products with the lowest price for all athletes, from beginners to professionals". In order to pursue the ultimate low price, Decathlon tries its best to reduce costs and gain profits in all aspects of the whole industrial chain, such as R&D, design, production, logistics and sales. As for products, Decathlon has a rich brand product line, covering sports shoes, clothing, sporting goods, outdoor products, etc. In terms of cost performance, Decathlon clearly defined the market position at the beginning of the brand establishment, "adopting the strategy of the best cost performance to provide sports products with the lowest price for all sports enthusiasts in the same shopping mall"; In terms of quality, the quality inspection standards of products follow the standards of the European Union, and the quality of products is also guaranteed under the low-price strategy. In China’s current consumer market, Decathlon’s explosion is precisely the brand’s display of different fashions and trends to consumers, which provides personal significance.

　

Strategy 3: Providing "Identity Value"

　

From actively pursuing luxury goods to shopping in discount stores, from pursuing imports to domestic products, from Taobao JD.COM to Pinduoduo, high-cost goods and various shopping methods have met the needs of consumers. Pinduoduo has more recognized values and deeper connections with consumers, making Pinduoduo the top of the e-commerce industry.

　

As of the close of the US stock market in the early morning of December 1st, Beijing time, Pinduoduo’s closing market value surpassed Alibaba’s, making it the first stock in the US-China stock market. It has only been more than eight years since Pinduoduo was founded, and this development speed is remarkable. Behind this achievement is not only the rapid rise of Pinduoduo, but also the symbol of the change of consumers’ consumption concept in China. In the fierce competition on the Internet track, Pinduoduo grabbed the food from the tiger’s mouth, found another way to look for new opportunities in the sinking market, and constantly eroded the occupied market with low-priced positioning. The strategy of "surrounding the city from the countryside" boosted the performance and achieved the overtaking of Alibaba’s market value in just eight years.

　

Careful analysis reveals that Pinduoduo’s success is not accidental. In recent years, consumers pay more attention to practicality and cost performance, and are more inclined to provide products and services with the greatest value. Everyone is still spending money, and even the number of purchases has increased, but they are more pursuing quality and low price. Pinduoduo also aimed at consumers’ psychology of liking low prices, which conquered consumers with low prices and made it the fastest-growing e-commerce platform in China. The success of Pinduoduo has also caused more people to think about the industry. In the new consumption era, whoever can continuously provide users with a better and cheaper shopping experience will win the hearts of consumers.

　

In the future, the trend of prudent and smart consumption will continue to deepen, prompting consumers to make more sensible and meaningful consumption decisions. Behind the trend of rationality, there are also new demands and new tracks from the spiritual, emotional and personality levels.