Click to read the original text for details. Today, let's discuss a question: Where are the opportunities in China's commercial market? We often hear people in traditional industries complain that business is hard, but is that really the case? In this listicle, we share with you Mr. Shen's nine major discoveries in the business world. After reading, you'll find that opportunities are actually everywhere.

Discovery 1: The consumption roles of 'aunties' and 'young girls' are swapping 'Aunties' and 'young girls' were once considered two extremes in the portrait of Chinese female consumers, but in reality, their consumption characteristics are colliding and interweaving into a contradictory charm: aunties' consumption increasingly shows a desire for beauty, while young girls' consumption exhibits the shrewdness of a 'housewife'. For example, data from Vipshop shows that female users born in the 1970s have the highest growth rate in orders for beauty products, while female users born after 1995 show a higher growth rate in orders for home products like thermal protection gear and bathroom supplies.

Discovery 2: Consumption is becoming 'gender-neutral' In the past, we thought products like beauty and skincare, kitchenware, and baby products were mainly targeted at the female market. But a large amount of data shows that the proportion of male consumers in these markets has been growing rapidly in the past two years. At the same time, many consumption scenarios that were originally male-dominated, such as home improvement, online gaming, and tech products, are also seeing more female presence. As you can see, the boundaries between male and female consumer categories are weakening.

Discovery 3: The 'lazy economy' is emerging among young people The 'lazy economy' refers to creating new market opportunities by satisfying consumers' desire to 'be lazy'. How much do Chinese people love to 'be lazy'? In 2018, Chinese people spent 16 billion yuan on 'being lazy', a 70% increase from the previous year, with the fastest growth among those born after 1995, at 82%.

What products best help people be lazy? The top ten lazy products on Taobao's hot search are: fat house happy chair, lazy hot pot, lazy sock washer, lazy underwear washer, lazy drink hat, lazy toothbrush, lazy no-rinse spray, lazy bread maker, lazy cooking machine, and lazy sunflower seed cracker.

Discovery 4: The ability of channels to sell goods increasingly depends on the way they sell Channels still reign supreme in retail, but we need to rethink what channels mean. For example, offline channels, despite being impacted by e-commerce, have many success stories. For instance, Miniso's eyeliner pen has sold 200 million units since its launch through its own stores. This demonstrates the power of extreme cost-effectiveness + rigid demand + offline channels. The key is not the channel itself, but how to use it effectively.

Discovery 5: Young people are becoming the main consumers of traditional domestic brands In the past, our impression of domestic brands was mostly old and outdated, but today, young people increasingly favor them. According to Tmall data, compared to pursuing international luxury brands, those born after 1995 prefer time-honored domestic brands like Xie Fuchun, Kong Fengchun, and Maxam. This is partly because the period when post-95s formed memories, roughly 2005-2010, was a time of surging national pride in China; secondly, Chinese manufacturing has truly improved.

Discovery 6: The 'digital natives' born after 2000 show distinctly different consumption characteristics The post-00s generation grew up with the internet and are also called 'digital natives'. They have consumption characteristics that are clearly different from every previous generation. For example, a research report by Tencent shows that post-00s have three times the savings of post-90s, they are more willing to invest more time and money in their interests, and they tend to consume within their means. Additionally, while older generations want a product to have all functions, today's post-00s prefer vertically specialized brands in their fields.

Discovery 7: Consumption upgrading continues, but in a differentiated manner We often say China is experiencing consumption downgrading. Looking at individual categories, sales of many high-end products are indeed slowing down, but overall market sales are increasing. For example, the electric toothbrush brand Oral-B did not meet expectations last year because many emerging brands with products priced at 199-299 yuan impacted Oral-B's products priced around 800 yuan. However, this does not mean that users of 800-yuan products are switching to cheaper ones; rather, more users of manual toothbrushes are starting to use cheaper electric toothbrushes. So the trend of consumption upgrading will not change, and it will be achieved in a 'same direction, different levels' manner.

Discovery 8: Luxury goods are becoming younger Let me show you three sets of data: 1) In 2018, China's luxury goods market maintained a 20% high growth rate for the second consecutive year; 2) China already accounts for 32% of global luxury consumption; 3) 40% of SK-II users are under 25. This shows that China's luxury market is booming, and millennials are becoming the main force in luxury consumption.

Discovery 9: Purchase demands are clearly pointing to 'happiness' and 'comfort' If in the past, most consumption needs were for basic living, showing off, etc., today's purchase demands have clearly become 'self-pleasing', i.e., to make oneself more comfortable. A representative data point is the increasingly fast sales growth of women's wire-free bras and bedding products.

Source: Logic Thinking (ID: luojisw)