In daily consumer goods, men's purchasing power has long been questioned as being inferior to that of dogs. If businesses want men to spend frequently, the best marketing is 'paying for the one you love.' Whether it's cosmetics, flowers, or luxury items like branded bags and jewelry, the users are women, but a certain proportion of the bill is paid by men. Online, this behavior of spending money to please the opposite sex is called the 'simp economy.' Now, this consumption behavior is facing challenges. Perhaps due to the overall economic environment, simps' expectations for love have also declined. Facing tight wallets and high sunk costs, men's spending on courtship is decreasing. In contrast, they are spending more money on pleasing themselves. Diamonds Fall Out of Favor Xianyu has witnessed the rise and fall of the simp economy. Once upon a time, 'simp literature' was the most popular sales pitch on this second-hand trading platform. Every time after May 20th and Valentine's Day, brand-new unopened iPhones and lipstick sets 'gifted by simps' would form a large landscape of disappointment on Xianyu. Now, searching for 'simp' on Xianyu only yields sporadic listings, mostly clumsy memes, and sincere simp goods are rare. However, the reputation of 'second-hand love' as good and cheap has been retained as a traffic password. Singing and dancing girls in live streams can best feel the decline in simps' purchasing power. The top supporters who once spent lavishly have suddenly disappeared. Without some suggestive moves to show sincerity, it's hard to receive a full screen of 'rockets' from the big brothers. For social entertainment platforms like Momo and Tantan, video live streaming services have always been the main performance driver. The financial reports of the parent company, Zhipin Group, show that this segment's revenue has declined for three consecutive years. If marriage is considered the goal of a simp, then the continuously declining marriage rate can indirectly prove that simp behavior is becoming less effective, or rather, there are fewer simps. This is particularly evident in the sales of diamonds, the 'wedding prop.' According to data from the China Insurance Association, the market size of diamond products in China fell to 82 billion yuan in 2022, a decrease of 18 billion yuan from 2021; from 2022 to now, the diamond setting market has declined by more than 50%, and the diamond index of the International Diamond Exchange has plummeted by 24% from its peak in 2022. Diamond brands are also having a hard time. In 2006, diamond merchant Li Houlin, one year after divorcing Li Xiang, founded the jewelry brand 'I DO,' positioned as a 'high-end love diamond ring.' With frequent appearances in TV dramas and celebrity weddings, I DO once became one of the most well-known diamond brands in China. But in the past two years, 'I DO' has fallen into operational difficulties, closing many stores and laying off employees, and in July this year completed a merger and restructuring with six subsidiaries. Li Houlin was also listed as a dishonest person subject to enforcement due to debt issues. Image | Source: I DO official Weibo Similarly, DR Diamond Ring's parent company, Di Ah Holdings, saw a 44% drop in net profit in 2022, and in the first half of 2023, its performance forecast predicts a plunge of 90%, with the first loss in non-GAAP net profit. Previously, DR had pioneered the rule that 'a man can only customize one ring in his lifetime,' accompanied by signing the 'True Love Agreement' and 'Quarrel Agreement.' This marketing strategy once made DR famous, but rumors spread that spending money on Taobao could erase DR orders and purchase records, which DR vehemently denied. In 1950, diamond mining giant De Beers launched the slogan 'A diamond is forever,' first 'romantically kidnapping' men. At that time, although De Beers controlled 90% of the diamond market transactions, it faced the imminent collapse of the diamond price system. De Beers came up with the brilliant idea of tightly binding love and diamonds together, giving this natural mineral, later discovered to be volatile, a unique meaning—perfect love is beautiful and eternal, and so is a diamond, so diamonds equal love. The desire to be loved and appreciated is human nature, and for women, this need is amplified many times over by societal expectations. They are trained from a young age that their value largely depends on their ability to attract a partner, so women constantly seek approval from others to prove they are loved. Thus, diamonds naturally became the commodity for simps to show sincerity. De Beers thereby preserved the value of diamonds, but technology develops more unpredictably than love. Today, Henan's man-made diamonds account for more than half of global production, are more flawless than natural ones, and can cost as little as one-tenth of natural diamonds. Domestic cultivated diamonds have already been able to influence marriages and love worldwide. Affected by this, coupled with the sluggish consumer market, De Beers' 6th sight (and auction) sales in 2023 were $410 million, a 35.74% decrease from 2022. The Simp Economy's Rise and Fall In 2023, the number of marriage registrations in China has declined for eight consecutive years. As of February 20, 2023, the marriage rate for the post-90s generation is less than 20%. When transaction volumes decline, the costs people invest in them naturally decrease. Besides diamonds, once-essential Valentine's Day items like flowers and lipstick gift sets are also not selling as well as before. Zhengzhou Chenzhai Flower Shuangqiao Base is one of the largest flower markets in central China. On Valentine's Day 2022, rose sales at this wholesale market hit a five-year low. The previously popular 66-rose and 99-rose bouquets are no longer favored, replaced by cheaper 9-rose and 11-rose bouquets. Hu Dashu, who has sold flowers on Huangxing South Road Pedestrian Street in Changsha, Hunan for many years, feels that people's enthusiasm for buying roses has significantly decreased in the past two years. On Valentine's Day, from setting up his stall at 1 PM to 4 PM, he didn't sell a single rose. In recent years, one of the side hustles promoted on social media—selling flowers at a stall—has led many unfortunate souls to conclude after trying: 'Never do it!' Some lament that on Valentine's Day night, taking a walk on the street, even trash cans don't receive flowers. The luxury rose brand roseonly, established in 2013, focuses on creating love tokens. Similar to DR, it relies on the marketing strategy of 'buying roses requires registration, designating the only recipient, and cannot be changed for life,' quickly gaining popularity in China. Despite a bouquet of flowers being sold for thousands of yuan, it still attracted a legion of fans, including first-tier celebrities like Zhang Ziyi who endorsed it personally. In the capital market, roseonly was also highly favored, raising hundreds of millions of yuan in multiple rounds, with investors including Fashion Media Group, Tencent, and IDG Capital. However, its heyday did not last long. In recent years, roseonly has frequently seen negative news of executive departures, debts, and store closures. Image | A bouquet of roseonly roses costs nearly 40,000 yuan If flowers are neglected for their lack of practicality, then the sluggish sales of more practical cosmetics are even more telling. Cosmetic gift boxes have always been a symbol of male gifting and the romantic economy. Every Valentine's Day and shopping festival, major brands go all out, from international giants to domestic stars, from lipstick gift sets to full makeup gift sets, priced from 520 yuan to 1,314 yuan, targeting straight men of all consumption levels. In the just-passed '618' shopping festival, dubbed the 'biggest investment in history,' the cosmetics and skincare category faced a downturn. On Tmall's 618 pre-sale day in 2022, seven brands exceeded 10 million yuan in cosmetics pre-sales, but this year only four did. Taobao Tmall skincare pre-sales fell 59.9% year-on-year, and cosmetics and perfume pre-sales fell 44.3%. Along with the lipstick effect, the cultivation of simps has also failed. The 'He Economy' For a long time, the consumer market has had a chain of contempt—girls > children > young wives > elderly > dogs > men, with men's spending power considered 'worse than dogs.' However, in recent years, men's consumption is rising, with a trend to surpass women. Besides traditionally 'masculine' industries like tobacco, alcohol, games, cars, and digital products, men's spending on appearance for self-pleasure is also growing rapidly. Beauty products have always been exclusive to women, but with the spread of the concept 'appearance is justice,' men are becoming more beauty-conscious. As early as 2006, cosmetics brands led by L'Oréal launched men's lines in China. By 2016, various men's skincare and cosmetics began to enter the Chinese market. Although these products were not fully accepted at the time, more and more e-commerce platforms and offline merchants began to gradually lay out this market. Since last year's Double 11, men's care has been upgraded to a first-level category on Tmall's fast-moving consumer goods. In the first quarter of this year, sales of men's cosmetics on Tmall reached nearly 500,000 units, a month-on-month increase of about 7%; sales amounted to 45 million yuan, an increase of over 12%. In the second half of 2022, Douyin beauty data showed that men's skincare grew by 136.2%. With market demand, the supply side is also strong. Various new domestic brands for men are emerging and favored by capital. Lanxi, with its cool industrial design, completed a 10-million-yuan Series A financing in 2022; Liran, founded in 2019, develops comprehensively in skincare, grooming, washing, and cosmetics, completing six rounds of financing in just a few years. Now, men's beauty and skincare brands are as hot in the capital market as domestic women's cosmetics brands were back then. Image | Jing Boran endorses Liran. Source: Liran official Weibo In addition, men are also paying more attention to improving their attire. Vipshop, which has always focused on the female market, saw this year's 618 data show that men's sun-protective clothing sales increased 328% year-on-year, and outerwear sales increased 83%. Men's clothing and accessory consumption growth far exceeds that of women. In the past few years, Dewu APP, mainly for male consumers, achieved a GMV of 100 billion yuan in 2021. From 0 to 100 billion GMV, Alibaba took 5 years, JD.com took 10 years, but Dewu took only 4 years. Chinese men's spending power on shoes and clothing has been able to support a new e-commerce unicorn. In the high-end market, men are also increasingly willing to spend on themselves. The 'World Luxury Report Blue Book' shows that the male high-end product market is growing faster than female in all categories. At the same time, the growth of post-95 men in China's luxury market cannot be ignored. Compared to the post-80s who seek identity and social status, Generation Z pursues luxury with a focus on trendiness and bold aesthetics. Why are there more and more 'profligate men'? In recent years, the number of single people in China has been growing. In 2023, this number will exceed 240 million, equivalent to the total population of the UK and Russia. Single people have very different consumption habits from non-single people. 'One person full, the whole family not hungry' means single men have no family burden, so they have lower savings awareness and higher consumption frequency. In China, the number of single men is higher than single women. Southwest Securities data shows that there are 22.6 million more single men aged 20-29 than women of the same age, and 7.16 million more single men aged 30-39 than women. Not dating or supporting a family, mentally, they focus more on self-enjoyment; when spending money, these single men also start to produce and consume for themselves. The Vanishing Simp From a behavioral perspective, 'simps' have at least two excellent qualities: deep affection and persistence. From a historical division of labor, the 'simp spirit' seems to be hidden in men's genes. From primitive society where women gathered and men chased prey, men have inherently carried the genes of 'initiative' and 'hunting.' Coupled with the subsequent patriarchal society where women were in a weak position and expected to be reserved, waiting for men's invitations, men pursuing women became a matter of course. Demographically, from 1980 to 2014, China's sex ratio at birth was 114.7, with men outnumbering women by tens of millions, so men faced more courtship pressure. With one woman sought by a hundred men, it seems reasonable for men to be 'simps.' With the advent of industrial society and the spread of education, women's status has improved, and gender equality has increased, subtly changing gender relations and courtship psychology. The more equal the status, the more equal the courtship model. Men pursuing women is no longer a given; women have the right to choose, and 'female simps' are not uncommon. Currently, the demise of the simp economy is more likely due to the economic environment. Employment pressure, housing costs, and other realities have made young people lose confidence in the future. 'Kneeling long in the wealth temple, ignoring the marriage temple,' young people generally believe that making money is better than dating. In busy work, managing an intimate relationship has become a burden. Pursuing a romance requires not only money but also energy and time. For simps, long-term investment cannot bring certainty, only increasing sunk costs. When times are good, perhaps one can afford to be a simp, but when money is tight and expectations worsen, one considers cost-effectiveness. With limited money, rather than investing in a vague dream, it's better to spend on oneself and enjoy the moment.