I am Ouyang Butong, founder of Qingdan. This Spring Festival, besides my usual residence in Beijing and my parents' home, I also visited my grandfather's home in a rural area of Hebei, as well as Kyoto and Osaka in Japan. My work is closely related to 'consumption', so wherever I go, I pay attention to details related to consumption. The small shop at the doorstep is perhaps the most trivial yet real detail of 'consumption' in everyone's life. Walking out of my grandfather's courtyard, there was a small shop by the roadside not far away, selling daily necessities for the villagers. On one of the main shelves, there were instant noodles. Instant noodles are very popular here—many people eat them often even when not in a hurry; neighbors visiting each other often bring a box of instant noodles as a gift. The importance of instant noodles in Japanese daily life needs no elaboration. Next to the ordinary apartment I stayed in Osaka, there was a Lawson convenience store that naturally sold instant noodles. In the village shop, the best-selling item is 'Baixiang' bagged instant noodles (because people usually cook them at home, they don't buy the more expensive cup noodles), at 3.5 yuan per pack. In Osaka convenience stores, most are cup noodles, but for comparison I specifically looked for bagged ones, at 105 yen per pack (about 6 yuan). In fact, these two small shops define the upper and lower bounds. The lives and consumption of most Chinese urban residents fall between these two lines. The so-called 'consumption upgrade' is the process of moving from near one line to gradually approaching the other. So between these two packs of instant noodles, what can we see? 1 Does consumption upgrade necessarily mean buying more expensive things? Basically, yes. Although the income disparity between my hometown and Osaka residents is huge, a slightly more expensive pack of instant noodles is nothing for Osaka people. But Osaka instant noodles are still more expensive—even if we put both packs in a third place without considering extra shipping and tariffs, due to higher quality, Osaka instant noodles can clearly be sold at a higher price. People going on shopping sprees overseas during the Spring Festival is not contradictory. Buying the same thing in a different place is not consumption upgrade—changing from buying the same toilet seat in Shanghai to buying it in Japan is not an 'upgrade'; changing from a non-electric to an electric one is. The electric one is more expensive. 2 'Upgrade' requires not only higher quality but also a richer variety of choices. Noodles should be as tasty as possible, safe, and not turn mushy easily—these are basic requirements. More importantly, those who like Tom Yum and those who like Zha Jiang Mian should both find their favorites. 3 Having good products also requires strong trade and distribution. The instant noodles on Lawson's shelves come from all over Japan and the world. This means it's not as simple as the store owner directly negotiating with the manufacturer; it relies on various levels of distributors and cross-border traders. Therefore, we living in China should thank major e-commerce platforms, including cross-border e-commerce—except for Hong Kong, Shanghai, and a few southern cities, most Chinese urban residents do not have a wonderful convenience store like Lawson within a 3-minute walk. But now we have JD.com, Tmall Supermarket, Xiaohongshu, and Bolome. They may be providing the convenience that Lawson, 7-Eleven, and FamilyMart offer to residents in Japanese cities in a more efficient way. Gradually, as long as good products are made anywhere in the world, any ordinary person can conveniently buy them. This is somewhat like the scenario described by the 'efficient market hypothesis' in economics, but here the focus is not on information—but on goods—being able to circulate fully in the market, allowing sellers to compete fully and buyers to choose fully. 4 The biggest problem consumers face has shifted from scarcity to choice difficulty. When you can conveniently access similar products from all corners of the world, choosing becomes the thing that takes the most time and energy. As the market becomes more 'efficient', it will definitely take more of your time and energy in the future. So what should we do? 1 The era of price supremacy is over. Producers should make good enough products and charge reasonable fees. Recently, people have generally accepted that the dividend of the 'loser economy' has passed. Whether this is accurate is debatable, but the biggest business guidance from consumption upgrade is indeed to fill the quality and diversified consumption needs of the rising new middle class. With increased purchasing power and open-mindedness, people are increasingly willing to pay corresponding prices for quality and personalization—as long as the price is not too outrageous. 2 In some categories, 'basic models' may still have a market. But more commonly, brands should fully segment market demand and give consumers as personalized and diverse choices as possible. Anyone who has done retail knows that the variety of products on the shelf means more choices for consumers and higher conversion rates for sellers—more customers entering the store will actually buy something before leaving. People like MUJI's design and Uniqlo's prices, but if you go to anyone's home and see all MUJI and Uniqlo, wouldn't it be too boring? Variety is the very spice of life. People like different things, which means niche brands and non-standard products will have huge room for development. 3 The lofty ideal of e-commerce brothers should be to achieve an 'efficient market' for goods. Traditional retail enterprises are limited by single-store traffic scale, store space, and supporting industries, so they can only provide a relatively small number of similar products at a time. Theoretically, e-commerce can achieve warehousing and distribution capabilities an order of magnitude higher than traditional retail—whether centralized or platform-based. So although JD.com and Alibaba are already awesome now, they will become even more awesome. This process will provide opportunities for more brands and suppliers until the theoretical efficient market is infinitely approached. 4 Helping consumers make decisions will have great potential, with content as the core. The essence of consumption decisions is to let consumers choose products that truly suit them; at the same time, it also means letting personalized products truly find the people who suit them. When retailers, including e-commerce sites, fill the market with enough rich products and information, the interpretation of information becomes increasingly important. The substantive problem to solve here is the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. Humans have a way to solve information asymmetry, which is through content transmission. This requires both media-like, professional purchasing knowledge and community-based, diverse experience sharing. In short, it is to provide information as efficiently as possible to help consumers find products that suit them more efficiently. How many excellent startups this will spawn is still unclear, but in any case, there is a lot to do here, and it is close to money. 'Qingdan' has been on this path. Although still early, we just completed a new round of financing before the Spring Festival, preparing to go further on this path. Consumption is the initial impetus and ultimate purpose of the entire social economy. Consumption upgrade not only means that everyone around us is about to live a more comfortable and beautiful life, but also means the further prosperity of several industries. Both those who spend money and those who earn money will be very happy. What a wonderful thing that is. 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