揭秘中国年轻人：消费主义将在中国年轻人中日渐式微？
by Philix Liu
23 November 2023
Introduction: In this exploration of the shifting consumer behaviors of Chinese youth, we challenge the notion that consumerism is on the decline. Examining the prevalent 'lay-down' attitude, we uncover the commercial implications and shed light on the emerging trends towards frugality and practical consumption.
摘要：在探讨中国年轻人消费行为转变时，消费主义正在衰退的观念被考验。通过研究当下盛行的“躺平”，我们揭示了相关商业影响，并阐明了趋于节俭和实际的消费新趋势。
On Chinese social media these days, there has been a surge of discussions around how to ‘reverse consumption’ and how to ‘save money with rage’. Thanks to the rising popularity of 'lay-down' attitude, the pursuit of pragmatic consumption and pride of frugality began to gain traction among the Chinese youth, almost resembling the value and lifestyle popular in my parents’ generations in 1980s and 1990s when supply was actually scarce. As a direct consequence, the consumer spending has quickly gone into a chill mode despite the short-lived uptick in early 2023 after the China reopening. New York Times calls it China’s New Thrift Economy, hugely in contrast to when ‘buy buy buy’ was the main theme song for China’s economy prior to 2023.
近来在中国社交媒体上，关于如何“反向消费”和如何“报复性省钱”的话题激增。由于“躺平”态度的“风靡”，对实用型消费的追求和对节俭型消费的自豪感开始在中国年轻人中得到推崇，这几乎和上世纪80年代及90年代间父母一代所流行的价值观和生活方式相类似。由此直接带来的结果是，2023年中国消费在疫情重新开放后短暂上升，随后却迅速陷入冷却。《纽约时报》称之为中国的新节俭经济，这与在2023年之前中国消费的主旋律“买买买”形成了鲜明对比。
Qualitatively, based on my observations in several malls in Shanghai (aside from top luxury malls), the foot traffic has been reduced visibly overall and much is diverted to basement floors where convenient and affordable F&B are situated; whereas the premium and luxury brands on level 1 and 2 are less visited and shopped than pre-COVID.
从质量上来看，根据我在上海几个购物中心（除了顶级奢侈品购物中心）的观察，整体上人流量明显减少并且大部分人流转向了位于地下、方便又实惠的餐饮区；而一楼和二楼的高档和奢侈品牌的人流量和购买成交量比疫情前要少。
Shanghai Babaiban Mall at 6PM (mass premium mall), in 2023.
2023年，上海八百伴购物中心的下午6时（大众高端购物中心）
It is certainly fair to question the future of consumption among Chinese youth due to the ‘lay-down’ （躺平）attitude and ‘stoic’ （佛系）lifestyle, when they realize it is hard to make money but not so hard to not to spend money and quench big wants and urges. With the highest recorded youth unemployment rate in China (government stopped publishing such data in June 2023), we have all the reasons to worry about the future of consumption among Chinese youth.
由于“躺平”的态度和“佛系”的生活方式，当年轻人意识到赚钱难，但省钱不难、遏制物欲和消费冲动也没那么难时，我们可以合理怀疑中国年轻人的消费未来。此外，中国年轻人失业率的最高记录不断被打破（政府在2023年6月暂停发布此类数据），我们更有理由担心这个问题。
Young white collars flocked to buy lottery tickets after work as a rising hobby in 2023.
2023年，年轻白领下班后买彩票成了新兴爱好
Meanwhile, brands, whether luxury or mass ones, have been giving it all to lure the youth back into the game and capture their attention by making a splash:
与此同时，无论是奢侈品还是大众品牌，它们一直在全力吸引年轻人回归消费，并试图通过制造热潮来吸引他们的注意力：
For instance, collaborative brands’ campaigns and pop-up stores have become the go-to tactics for gaining immediate foot-traffic and marketing buzz in the past 12 months: Fendi x HeyTea and Moutai x Luckin. By lowering the barrier and bringing the youth closer to the brands, these campaigns by luxury brands now have offered a little taste for the Chinese youth so they could potentially come back later for more when they have the spending power.
例如，品牌的联名和快闪店成为在过去12个月内获得即时流量和营销关注的常用策略：芬迪x喜茶和茅台x瑞幸。通过降低门槛的方式，品牌拉近了年轻人与品牌的距离：这些活动为中国年轻人提供了一点奢侈体验的甜头，这样他们在未来有了更多消费能力时才有可能回归。
Collab between Fendi and HeyTea was a big hit along with many other collabs in 2023.
2023年，芬迪x喜茶是今年大受欢迎的联名之一
Despite hitting the marketing KPIs out of the park, it is still questionable whether these campaigns could generate long-term revenue and create a lasting and positive impact. Regardless, the great insight here is quite meaningful: the aspiration for luxury (and its associated lifestyle) is still powerful and prevalent among the youth; however, despite the success on raising brand awareness on social media, the youth may regard these brands’ campaigns and pop-up stores merely as a scene vending out free goodies, which can be even sold on second-hand market for a profit. A lot of buzz and one-time transaction, little sustainable relationship. To a greater extent, the impact of such vanity-seeking campaigns can also be only limited in top tier cities and cannot ripple into lower tier cities.
这些活动在市场KPI中表现出色，但它们是否能够产生持久、积极的影响和长期收益仍存疑。无论如何，这其中的洞察更有意义：对奢侈品（及其相关生活方式）的追求在年轻人中仍然坚定而普遍；然而，除了在社交媒体上提高了品牌知名度，年轻人却可能认为这些联名活动和快闪店仅仅是在免费派发福利，甚至可以挂在二手市场上赚钱。大量炒作和一次性交易很难做到可持续。一定程度来说，这种满足虚荣的活动除了能影响一线城市，无法下沉到其他更小的城市。
Besides luxury brands’ push to target Chinese youth’s minds and behaviors, we are also seeing brands trying different tactics to adapt to this new norm of spending less and saving more. Here is a short summary of brands and campaigns worth noting:
除了奢侈品牌努力瞄准中国年轻人的思想和行为，我们还看到品牌尝试不同的策略来适应这种花费更少、储蓄更多的新常态。以下是一些值得注意的品牌和活动的简要概括：
The most straightforward low cost strategy: Meituan, Xianyu, Pinduoduo.com
Decrease the unit price, increase and fix the spending behavior: KFC Crazy Thursday
Democratize the product by shrinking the content/size: Harmay #minibeauty trend
Shop experience via lowered barrier to entry: Dior afternoon tea, LV bookstore
最直接的低成本策略：美团、闲鱼、拼多多
降低单品价格，提高和固定消费行为：肯德基疯狂星期四
通过小“容量”使产品大众化：话梅 #小美丽 趋势
通过降低进入门槛提供购物体验：迪奥下午茶，路易威登书店
Meituan's campaign celebrating saving and living a low-cost lifestyle.
美团的活动宣传节约和低成本的生活方式
Crazy Thursday campaign by KFC, promoting low-cost deals.
肯德基的疯狂星期四活动促进低成本消费
Mini-sized cosmetic samples sold at Harmay store (photo credit: China Daily)
话梅店铺出售迷你化妆品，即化妆品小样（图片来源:中国日报）
LV's pop-up bookstore in Shanghai went viral online and offline.
LV在上海的快闪书店在线上和线下都火出圈
Some thoughts and implications:
一些思考：
Instead of questioning where this trend could lead us, many would are probably more interested in knowing how long will this last until we get back to ‘normal’. My answer is that the cautious spending attitude and mindset is not going anywhere in the short term but it doesn’t mean that the consumerism is dead for Chinese youth. They are still eager to find experiences and products worth their money, just with more scrutiny and research. As social media natives, they are extremely savvy and resourceful when it comes to making a spending decision. They seek for authentic and trustworthy opinion leaders’ opinions and guidance. They also seek for products with great value and less gimmick.
与其思虑消费下行的趋势可能带来的后果，许多人可能对这种状态会持续多久才恢复正常更感兴趣。我的回答是，谨慎的消费态度和心态在短期内不会消失，但这并不意味着中国年轻人的消费主义已经走向消亡。他们仍然渴望找到物有所值的体验和产品，只是会深入研究、审慎决策。作为社交媒体原住民，他们在做出消费决策时非常足智多谋并且善于利用资源：他们寻找真实、值得信赖的博主的建议或指导；以及寻找高性价比、低噱头的产品。
They can still be impulsive in spending (young and irrational should come hand in hand right?). They look for novel and exciting experience, not only to share with friends on social media, but also truly to strike them with physical and emotional resonance. The good old ostentatious spending may longer be sustainable any more (vanity still sells, but not in a sustainable way). Be empathetic and creative.
他们仍然可能在会冲动消费（年轻这个词，有时和非理性可能是相辅相成的，对吧？）。年轻人之所以寻找新奇的、令人兴奋的体验，不仅是为了在社交媒体上与朋友分享，更是为了能和身体、情感真正产生共鸣。过去的浮夸消费可能不再是可持续的（虚荣仍然可以贩卖，但不再以过去的方式），要有同理心和创造力。
In short, it is a time to spend extra efforts truly knowing your young customers/prospects. Get in their shoes first, feel their struggle and goals. Give them hope (not just marketing) now so they could (hopefully) come back to you in the future.
简而言之，现在正是努力真正了解年轻的客户/潜在客户的时候。首先走他们走的路，感受他们的挣扎和目标。现在给他们希望（不仅仅是营销），这样他们未来可以（希望）回到你这里。
In the next post, we will share our in-depth look into how Chinoiserie plays a momentum-making role in shaping Chinese youth's value, lifestyle and spending decisions. Stay tuned!
在下一篇文章中，我们将深入探讨中国年轻人的新中式风尚如何助推价值观、生活方式和消费决策的塑造。敬请关注！