Source | 后浪研究所 “Is the stock about to come out? I'm scared.” “Stop pushing, okay? People can't even stand. What are you doing?” A young woman squeezed between elderly shoppers, holding her glasses and frowning. At 8:07 PM on April 21, Li Xi, who had just gotten off work, hurried to the Seven Fresh supermarket on the basement level of Beijing Yaojiayuan Vientiane Hui. Although she was only seven minutes late, there were already so many people that shopping carts were insufficient, so she had to squeeze into the crowd with a shopping basket. Several rounds of grabbing had already occurred, and the scene was chaotic. At 8 PM, the supermarket began its nightly "daily clearance" (i.e., clearing all inventory to avoid selling items the next day). Even though it was a workday, the supermarket was packed with people, a stark contrast to the quiet mall upstairs. Seven Fresh at 8:07 PM Other supermarkets with similar daily clearance activities include Hema, Walmart, Wumart, Yonghui, and various established, emerging, and even internet-famous supermarkets, all joining this discount competition, transforming into "paradise for the poor" at 8 PM, like the enchanted pumpkin carriage in the Cinderella story. However, Seven Fresh's popularity far exceeds that of other supermarkets, as seen in the scene above. A netizen once posted a video showing elderly shoppers bending down and rushing into the supermarket as soon as the rolling door opened, with a fanfare comparable to scalpers on the day of the latest iPhone release. Another netizen complained about elderly shoppers taking items directly from others' carts or even grabbing them from hands. Young people also lamented that they couldn't get good items, and "How to outcompete the elderly at Seven Fresh" became a search term on Xiaohongshu, yielding 143 posts. The sudden popularity of evening clearance may stem from a challenge that went viral on social media two months ago: trying to see how much you can buy in Beijing after 8 PM with 100 yuan. A blogger bought a box of guava that was 16.88 yuan during the day for 10.88 yuan, a pineapple that was 24.8 yuan for 14.8 yuan, and a whole black-boned chicken at 50% off. The video received 537,000 likes and 421,000 shares. In the comments, people asked for names of discount supermarkets, shared their own shopping experiences, and marveled at Beijing's prices. A Seven Fresh picker even said, "I'm scared every time the discount time comes; the old ladies are like zombies." Li Xi saw these videos and specifically went to the Seven Fresh near her home the next day after work. I entered the supermarket at 8:02, five minutes earlier than Li Xi. The elderly shoppers had already started grabbing. Unable to compete with their strength, I lingered on the periphery. After the crowd dispersed, I saw several boxes on the floor containing discounted angelica vegetables, organic broccoli, selenium-rich celery, and a pile of leafy greens I couldn't name, all at half price. As for the blueberries (49 yuan for 6 boxes) and Dalian Meizao cherries (over 50 yuan) that netizens recommended grabbing, they were already gone. Broccoli left in the box While I was busy selecting vegetables, another round of grabbing began on the other side, this time for yogurt, meat, pastries, and cooked food. People pushed and shoved, and even a delivery worker was surrounded and couldn't escape, complaining, "Is this really necessary?" In less than two minutes, the elderly shoppers who had grabbed popular items left the source, and a group of young people slowly approached the boxes to pick through the leftovers. What remained were either cornbread and cold dishes with less than a day of shelf life, or yogurt that cost nearly 20 yuan, which wasn't cost-effective. I watched Li Xi pick through the boxes, selecting two boxes of yogurt, a box of tomatoes, and a bag of crown daisy sprouts, all at half price. She said she didn't usually eat these, but "influenced by the atmosphere, I just wanted to buy, wanted to grab." Meanwhile, the elderly shoppers were pushing their loot to the second battlefield—the warehouse entrance. A kind auntie told me to hurry to the entrance because staff might push out a cart of daily clearance items, and if I didn't go soon, they'd be gone. At least 30 people stood in front of the warehouse, divided into two groups: young people on the left, elderly on the right, all looking forward eagerly. Looking at the crowd, a middle-aged man shook his head and reached out to stop his wife from squeezing in, saying, "With so many people, don't grab. It's scary, not necessary!" But she was unmoved and plunged into the crowd without looking back. Seeing this, a woman with a child hid behind and complained to her companion, "Is the stock about to come out? I'm scared." Collective supermarket promotion In discount supermarkets, the elderly have the strongest fighting power. Their carts were piled high with discounted items. Having failed to grab any good items, I felt both envious and frustrated at missing out, so I decided to learn from these elderly shoppers. An auntie who had grabbed special-price blueberries said that staff usually push out a wave of vegetables and fruits first. She arrives at the warehouse entrance at 7:30 PM every day to grab the first wave of blueberries and kiwis, "but there's no set time for how many waves or when." Another uncle said that whether you can get good items is uncertain, "It's not even guaranteed there will be meat every day." Some aunties even formed grabbing teams. When the last wave of clearance items, like flowers, was pushed out from the warehouse on a cart, two aunties cooperated: one grabbed flowers at the front, the other guarded the cart at the back. The front-line auntie carried at least ten bouquets to the cart, selected three with her partner, and threw the rest back onto the cart. Elderly grabbing flowers Every time this auntie grabbed an item, she took a photo and sent it to her old sisters, asking, "Do you want this? It expires on X month X day. If not, I'll return it." Seeing this, many young people were discouraged. "I used to occasionally buy a few, but now the aunties come in groups. Some block you from getting close, others frantically load carts. I'm in awe; I can't buy anything at all," a netizen complained. "The experience has become terrible. It's no longer the Seven Fresh I used to like. I go less often now. Whoever wants to grab can grab." When I expressed the same thought to a supermarket staff member, she suggested I come in the morning for a better chance of getting more items. She told me the supermarket has two clearance sessions daily: morning from 8 AM to 12 PM, and evening from 8 PM to 10 PM. The morning session has more stock and fewer people, while the evening session often clears items left from the day. Having learned some shopping rules, I decided to visit a few more supermarkets. I heard that Ito Yokado, located on the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, has discounted bento boxes at 8 PM. The next evening at 7:50, I arrived at this established Japanese supermarket. As soon as I entered, I saw no customers, only a staff member selling pork ribs at a stall, shouting that three boxes could be bought for 136 yuan, "If you want, I'll throw in another box." This was a world apart from Seven Fresh's frenzy. Further in, there were low-priced meats: 100 yuan could buy five boxes of about 110g of beef or four boxes of 280g of pork. Discounted meat slices A staff member also told me, "If you buy now and come back during the day, just tell them you've bought before, and they'll give you a discount." It's like getting a discount membership card with one purchase. I asked, "Can you make money at such low prices?" "Small profits, quick turnover. With no customers, this is the only way," she said. Since the mall upstairs started renovations, the supermarket has been this deserted. The people I passed that day were all young, not a single elderly person. An hour later, I left, and a large batch of snacks, cakes, and bento boxes with 20-30% discounts remained on the shelves. At 8 PM on April 24, I appeared on time at the Yonghui supermarket in Shijingshan District. This was Beijing's first self-renovated store learning from Pangdonglai, open for just over six months. The snack area at the entrance had few people. But as I walked further, I realized I had underestimated it—people were gathered in the deli and bakery areas. All discounted foods were placed on the countertops, including pig ears, lamb head meat, crayfish, duck necks, mixed salads, etc. Products not sold during the day were discounted, with a wider variety than Seven Fresh. Clearance products on the counter A deli staff member told me that if I wanted fewer people, "definitely don't come on weekends." If there aren't many items left, the supermarket won't discount. "On weekdays, sales aren't good, so in the evening we have clearance discounts, from 20% to 30% off, up to 40% off." But here, the majority were young people, at least 70%. Unlike the elderly, they didn't swarm but formed a circle around the counter, like an assembly line, decisively putting items they liked into their carts. Seeing the fully stocked counter, my friend and I couldn't resist buying several large boxes, leaving with a haul worth over 200 yuan. "Working people's three meals wait for supermarket discounts" Undeniably, the elderly are the biggest beneficiaries of evening discounts, buying vegetables at affordable prices and spending their retired time. On the day I went to Seven Fresh, I asked several elderly shoppers, and they all said they came almost every day. Some netizens even suspected the elderly had become Seven Fresh agents, "Can one old man eat ten bags of vegetables? They'll go bad in two days. They must be selling them at a stall." But for workers near the supermarket, evening discounts are their preferred canteen. Discovering that supermarkets after 8 PM are more cost-effective than wet markets, their first stop after work is no longer home but the discount supermarket. A young person who shops at the supermarket every week told "后浪研究所" that since accidentally discovering in 2023 that the supermarket near their company starts discounts at 8:30 PM, they shop twice a week, buying three days' worth of food each time. They said, "Working people's three meals wait for supermarket discounts." Still from "Yesterday's Food," image source: internet Some unemployed young people also see evening clearance as a money-saving trick. Some have compiled guides for nighttime supermarket savings, listing discount times for various supermarkets, saying you can buy fresh vegetables at low prices. Others have turned their Seven Fresh discount shopping videos into vlogs, becoming bloggers who "love shopping at Seven Fresh"... And supermarkets are indeed attracting many consumers with affordable prices. Evening discount clearance is not a new activity this year. It can be traced back to the fresh food supermarket Qian Dama. This brand, which opened its first store in 2012 with the slogan "No overnight meat," pioneered the "timed discount" clearance plan in China: starting at 7 PM, 10% off, with an additional 10% off every half hour until 11:30, when everything is given away for free, ensuring fresh products are sold daily. In 2017, Hema launched its own brand "Daily Fresh" series, with discounts starting after 8 PM and unsold items destroyed. Categories gradually expanded from vegetables and milk to fruits, meat, poultry, eggs, and 3R products (Ready to cook, Ready to heat, Ready to eat). In recent years, Walmart, Seven Fresh, Yonghui (renovated by Pangdonglai), Wumart, and even high-end boutique supermarkets have also started evening discounts. As more young people begin to "buy only what's right, not what's expensive," supermarkets are using increasingly lower discounts to cater to young consumers' needs. But for now, it seems supermarkets face more challenges. For these supermarkets, the daily clearance strategy can attract consumers looking for discounts and clear soon-to-expire products, but it also faces the problem of original-price items being hard to sell. After all, for young people, if they can get fresh vegetables at low prices, who would pay full price? In 2022, Qian Dama suspended all its Beijing stores due to abnormal operations. A franchisee once said that the daily clearance model wasn't profitable in Beijing, "Because our gross margin is too low. Its marketing method is more suitable for the south. In the north, you need to be cautious; this model has too much waste." But once the low-margin, high-volume daily clearance model starts, it's hard to stop. Slight price adjustments can easily lead to customer loss, undoing the hard-won customer market. Moreover, consumers may not fully accept this model. With the influx of elderly shoppers, young people's shopping experience at fresh food supermarkets has greatly declined. Complaints about Seven Fresh's chaotic clearance appear daily on social media. Some say Seven Fresh no longer has the experience it had when it first opened; others say they decided never to return after one visit; some find that the time spent grabbing discounted vegetables is more expensive than going to the wet market; some discover that the blueberries they fought for go moldy shortly after; others find that the cooked food they bought expires before they finish it... Still from "Crayon Shin-chan," image source: internet Young people suddenly realize that all their effort results not in savings but in waste. The craze for grabbing discounts after 8 PM is gradually cooling. A few days ago, Li Xi also told me that the yogurt she bought home expired a week later, and she threw away four boxes. "On average, I actually spent a few more yuan per yogurt." She decided not to participate in discount clearance anymore. Perhaps going to the wet market near home after work to pick a couple of cucumbers, weigh half a jin of ribs, and haggle with the vegetable seller is the most suitable way for her to shop. 🔺Scan for ticket inquiries🔺