What on earth are the young people "consuming"?

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“riding a bike to a bar is the province of flowers.” This sentence can be part of the contemporary young people’s consumption concept, they have accurate positioning of their own needs and consumption; we should seize the consumption view of the new generation of young people, and use marketing means that are in line with their consumption concept. The author of this paper analyzes the consumption concept of the young people. Let’s have a look.

when we were young, it was quite easy to do brand marketing for young people: invite a star, do cool and smash some advertisements, and then we can quickly become popular; if it is fresh and interesting, last CCTV will be popular all over the country overnight.

But now, everything is very different.

This generation of young people (after generation Z / 95), they have learned to filter out noisy and useless voices, and with the help of global interconnection, they have the ability to form their own opinions.

More importantly, social networks enable them to be good at using collective wisdom and social relations from the very beginning; they are used to expressing their opinions on social media, are willing to take responsibility, and prefer to actively explore their own choices.

On the contrary, today’s brand marketing is not only as simple as losing communication with young people – it is more about not understanding them, or simply understanding them, or one-sided understanding of them.

It takes a lot of effort to look up at the stars or ride the wind and waves with them, and you need to really understand their potential driving forces and needs. Only when you listen to them for a long time and involve them in your innovation and various activities from the beginning, can you gain something.

In particular, when you say the word “brand younger”, the word itself is no longer young.

Because the subtext is that you still start from the perspective of brand, hoping to create an advertising slogan by changing the packaging, finding a young spokesperson, and planting two or three popular programs through several marketing activities.

At present, many brands are becoming younger

It’s just a joke

Some brands, first of all, change the spokesperson, thinking that finding a young and fashionable spokesperson can break through the dilemma.

For example, Wahaha found Xu Guanghan, laiyifen invited Wang Yibo, who spoke for many brands such as CP, Nike and so on.

Come to Yifen x Wang Yibo in May 2020

Some brands of
have upgraded their logo and packaging, made some changes in the way of expression, and made some advertising films that people did not know they thought were very fashionable. For example, Dongpeng teyin “you should be awake when you are young”, and then you become young. At last, you suddenly find that your kite has broken the line and disappeared when the wind blows. Some brands of
began to integrate into some young fashion culture. They used the culture of Guochao, second dimension, black technology, social networking, and jokes as marketing gimmicks, or sponsored some variety entertainment programs that young people like to watch to do some cross-border. The superficial skills of this set of tricks and leg embroidery were very tiring to death, and only won the applause of no audience.

June 2020: National shenche Wuling and Yoho cross border

Some brands, after recognizing the trend of young people, are sliding to another extreme in order to cater to young people. For example, those brands that follow the “earth, low and bereaved” brand lose their original brand characteristics.

This practice of “flattering” young people for the sake of sales will not only make generation Z feel embarrassed and greasy, but also leave the accumulated old customers at a loss.

August 2020

Some brands are exploring the needs of the Z generation, and according to various behaviors and circles, they are labeled with a series of fixed labels, and realize the strategy of brand rejuvenation according to the portraits.

However, these people portraits themselves are superficial interpretations of the young consumer market. How the real demand changes dynamically in different scenes, experiences, contacts and meanings needs to be tracked, fed back and changed in real time.

They all think too simple about the young people of this generation; they also think about the label of young people too fixed; they also think of the young people’s thinking more superficial.

This is why many brands have not succeeded in rejuvenation, all from the superficial “Youth” and people’s superficial interpretation of young people’s consumption.

We know that: it is only a dream to understand the thoughts of a generation. Although the globalization trend of the world and this generation is unprecedented, the author thinks that generalization is still a good thing, and hopes to promote the understanding of these different young people through generalization and refinement.

Only in this way can we better grasp the ever-changing Z generation in the pace of progress and not lose the core of the brand – after all, the most important thing for a brand is to maintain its true self; to adapt to changes in the environment, and to innovate constantly.

“New era of navigation”

You don’t understand the environment of generation Z

The so-called “sea crossing” refers to the “big ocean” era, just like the “big ocean” era, which means “the whole new era of human beings”.

This digital ocean, first of all, is a world of material abundance. Here, choices come in like a flood. For the young majority, the problem is not how to get what they want, but how to “choose”.
In this digital ocean, mobility and fragmentation have become the life style and business underlying logic of this generation. Every evolution has refreshed the spirit of time and consumption of young people.
In this digital ocean, the accelerating, comprehensive and flowing changes are constantly impacting everyone. The old path is invalid and the old order is overturned. No one has a nautical chart. Every direction is not a direction, but also a direction. Everyone can only rely on looking at the stars from afar to move towards an uncertain future;
In this digital ocean, there is no safe harbor, only endless waves. Everyone stands in the boundless sea equally. Is it fish or shark swimming in the sea? I don’t know whether there will be water supply tomorrow. I don’t know whether there will be a water source tomorrow. I don’t know if there is a warm and sunny day in the first minute, and the storm will soon arrive at the second sight. After carrying the storm, the island and the new continent may be in front.

In the face of such a “new digital ocean” and “new liquid society”, previous generations are at a loss, let alone today’s young people.

Some of them continue to curl up in the old world, not to say, but to live for a lifetime is certain.

And more people, they choose to set out – to explore and discover the boundless new ocean and new world.

Some people, attached to the huge fleet of others, slowly drift on the sea, exploring the unknown distance together.
Some people, jumping on a raft, wandered alone, continue to explore, break the edge and fight for themselves.
Most of them form small fleets (circles and communities) and set sail ambitious. They are lonely, autonomous and in the same boat. They are fragile, sensitive and confident. They are the representatives of the present generation Z.

It is this unprecedented environment that is shaping a very different young people.

Different young people have different consumption behaviors from their predecessors. When we are busy labeling and interacting with young people to cater to them, we should first clarify their consumption behavior, understand their consumption concept and understand their consumption logic.

Because for generation Z, consumption is as natural as breathing, and as essential as supplies in the great voyage.

Consumption is all the
of life practice

Consumer behavior of generation Z you don’t know

1. It’s hard for you to understand the consumption logic of generation Z in China

Buy vegetables: all the way from 6.5 to 6.2, I still feel that it’s not cheap enough and leave.
Buy Lipstick: 500? 1000？ I can’t pay with “Huabei”.
Net red ice cream: 50 yuan, 100 yuan, you can queue up to buy; in the supermarket, 5 yuan, 10 yuan ice cream can spend the whole summer safely in the freezer.
“Eating and broadcasting” can become a kind of live broadcast all the time, and Luo Tianyi (virtual digital singer) will be rewarded with a lot of money.
“No eating, no buying blind boxes” is no exaggeration for the blind box die loyal powder. The group promotes the blind box sales to soar by 600% from 2018 to 2019; in 2019, there are 300000 blind box players trading on idle fish, and the number of idle blind boxes released each month is 320% higher than that of a year ago.

“Business week” has a business insight that subverts common sense:

The post-95’s in China are rich, while those in the United States are poor. The consumption of the post-95s and post-2000s in China accounts for 15% of China’s total household income, but only 4% in the United States. The savings rate of the post-95s in China is lower than that in the United States, Britain, France and other countries.

2. It’s hard to imagine the consumption hot spots of generation Z in China

In 2019, tmall released a list of post-95 players cutting hands. According to the list, handmade, fashion shoes, e-sports, COSPLAY and photography have become the five most popular and “money burning” hobbies of post-95 young people.

Since 2017, following the “shovel Shiguan”, all kinds of cat shops and cat suction halls have opened quietly in the first and second tier cities. The consumption of 100 yuan is a little expensive, but it makes it a unique scene in the physical stores after the epidemic.

In the process of Taobao’s “boring off shelves and New Youth”, there are more than 1 billion “original design” search volume, 10 billion + market scale of original products and stores, 455% plus annual turnover growth of characteristic markets.

Net red products such as Philips electric toothbrush, laser virtual keyboard, Bose headset, Dyson hair dryer and vacuum cleaner have no special function, they are expensive and belong to “luxury goods among small commodities”; however, these young people who can’t afford to buy large items (houses and cars) choose the most expensive goods they accept to create a kind of inner comfort.

If you can’t understand the exquisite life of the original design of generation Z, the inner comfort of buying Dyson hair dryer, the loneliness of “one person is also full” in the cat shop, and the pleasant uncertainty when buying blind boxes.

So how do you persuade young people to buy your brand?

3. What is the consumption of young people this year

As early as in 1970, Jean Baudrillard pointed out that people buy things not only as tools, but also as comfort and superiority.

And in the book “the system of things”: the actual use of goods in goods is no longer important, they become symbols carrying meaning.

There is such an argument in the book “on wonderful flowers”: am I wrong when I am young and “delicate and poor”

Zhan Qingyun told the truth: you are not spending money for what you like, you are spending money for the concept of “delicacy”; what you buy and pursue is defined by others; what you call “like and want” is just because others have it.

In my opinion, this actually refers to the post-80s and even the post-90s. However, for generation Z, it is a little outdated. It should be – besides “taking comfort and superiority as elements”, there are “pleasure in yourself” and “solution to problems”.

The post-80s and even the post-90s people have just bought big brand Lipsticks in their circle of friends. What they want to convey is not “I have bought a commodity”, but “I have the economic strength to consume famous brand lipstick”.

The post-95s and post-00s are quite different. “Pleasure” is integrated into every step of life and every dusty scene.

They can spend an afternoon fishing at the Animal Crossing club, saving enough money to plant their love flowers in the virtual garden, just waiting for their flowers to sit in the sunset.
They can also sweat in the street dance classroom. Can they really be famous for their short-term relaxation and happiness.
They can also sit on the subway in Hanfu and read a book, because they like it.
They can also play with a cat in a cat house alone for an afternoon, keeping themselves away from humans.
They also finely split the space-time scenes of daily life to create an ideal life as a whole; for example, when bathing, they need good-looking products to decorate the bathroom, and the process should have good smell, soft towel and even music.

When generation Z has any problems, he first thinks of “solving problems” through consumption

If you are not happy today, you may be happy to have a big meal or buy a blind box. I’m so fat recently. I’m going to buy a few fitness classes. I’ll take some exercise. Maybe I won’t go once. I want to go mountain climbing. I’ll buy some equipment and put it up first. I’ll go there when I’m free. I want to learn something different, so I’ll buy some courses for senior people. I’m in a bad mood recently. I’ll take an illustration class to adjust my mood.

For them:

Consumption is pleasure, a feast of beauty, quality and intelligence; consumption is meaning, the trust and temperature behind the symbol; consumption is wisdom, the evolution from playing with things and losing ambition to playing with things; consumption is exploration, driving details to grow new life style.

Consumption can give them everything in their lives.

In this way, when consumption becomes the “pleasure” and “problem-solving” of young people, can the brand building theory of selling products and selling lifestyle still work in the past?

When “comfort and superiority”, “pleasure oneself” and “problem-solving” become the consumption benchmark, can the goal of moving generation Z with one slogan and several activities be realized?

Generation Z [consumption] key words

Self determination, exploration, shrewdness, creation and self delight

1. Autonomy

Through consumption to discover, show, explore, and build their own personality.

In other words, generation Z expects to achieve a self through consumption and build a way of life through consumption.

1) Self control

Use a variety of intelligent devices to monitor the body, from smart bracelet to body fat scale, from tooth dialogue table to blood glucose meter, at the same time, use the small toys, ecological balls, small pets, screen saver pictures, etc. to help you regulate your mood. Self discipline and self-control of life habits, to regain their control of life through the sense of ceremony, and let themselves feel: I am the master of life. Use keep to keep self-discipline, punch in the group, learn to upload, record monitoring, take photos and Hairbands to force self-discipline. Travel by yourself. In the post-95’s tourism, they use “deep travel” to say goodbye to the way they used to travel. According to their own preferences, they plan out food, shopping, art exhibitions and other in-depth experience projects, which have become the focus of travel consumption.

2) Self definition

In recent years, entertainment circles frequently appear “human settings”, accompanied by IP, film and television, the second dimension is becoming more and more intense.

Under the premise of “independent” growth, “who am I? Who do I want to be? ” It is also an important consumption motivation of generation Z to find and define their own “artificial”.

Rely on their own trying and groping to find the true self. Emerge in an endless stream indoorsman chowhound: there are still some negative aspects of “eating goods”, “otaku” and “cock silk”. Now, “female,” “gentry”, “active waste”, “electronic slag men slag girl”, “money saving graduate student” and “fake rich game player” have become the grass root of young people’s self complacent, because they are more real and more circle. Sculpt and show yourself. This generation of young people prefer to carve, process and write their own stories on social networks to promote themselves and show themselves, rather than just being a “gusher” or “praising and commenting”. They are the stars of their own series. This is what Kwai tiktok is popular, the root cause of B station’s rise. Constantly adjust and change self style. This shows that generation Z is open and active to fresh culture and consumer products. Use small red book consumption, travel, live in aibiying, learn knowledge from station B, and see “live well” to decorate. As they describe their own decoration: “my home is like a tree, growing gradually”, rather than “my home is American, pastoral, Nordic, Japanese”.

From the perspective of consumption, “what to buy and what to use” becomes “who am I? Who do I want to be? ” The core display factors of.

Born as digital natives, they have the possibility of exploring more exports beyond the imagination of other generations.

2. Exploration

If we construct ourselves by consumption, everyone is the master. Of course, we should explore, not explore how to fit ourselves.

1) Continuous self exploration

Generation Z is perhaps the most learning group, and they have redefined learning:

From fragmentary self learning to the complete system behind the system: foreign languages, astronomy, biological evolution, farming, astrology, psychology, Zen, from shallow level to deep pursuit of human nature: for example, high intelligence, film and television books (Games / dark games of rights), games (fifth personality / animal friends’ Association), suspense (invisible guests / From learning knowledge to exploring his own experience learning, such as illustration, oil painting, hip-hop dance, games and so on, which only appeared on minors in the past.

Seeking a complete space-time for deep thinking and perception in solitude space:

They are always looking for a time / space, like to get rid of the outside interference and get solitude; help themselves to immerse themselves deeply to explore their own heart: the small sofa, bar and other solitude space in the rental house; enjoying one’s music with noise reduction earphones; one’s travel, driving alone, far away from the noise of the city; the non noisy space for self-expression on the Internet, writing private blogs, etc.

At any time, they pay close attention to self dialogue and self reflection; they jump out of the traditional image recording and begin to seek a more systematic and complete way of personal thinking

It includes writing oneself and recording accounts; including taking photos and videos to tell stories rather than recording them; and more listening and telling, such as setting up private live broadcasting, private radio stations, and trying to write non fiction.

2) “Self” continues to explore

Explore more facts. They are neither blindly following the brand, nor superstitious about the brand. Whether it is easy to use or not, they all need to explore and try it by themselves. After rigorous information search and other people’s evaluation and comparison, they pay more attention to how they feel when using it.

They firmly believe that “what suits them is the best”.

Explore more dimensions, from a single product use dimension to five sense dimension + three-dimensional online and offline, and then superimpose complex emotional feelings to experience and perceive.

For example, products full of texture, touch, make-up, sense of use and intelligence; for example, immersive drama is no longer used to live and experience online and offline; for example, the daily life space-time bath scene is finely divided, and good-looking products are used to decorate the bathroom. The process requires good smell, soft towel and even music.

3. Smart

I don’t know if you have seen that the young people who clamoured for “revenge consumption” during the epidemic period have stopped: they have not traveled, they have not bought and bought crazily, and they have not gone shopping crazily. In recent months of the epidemic, young people have become more shrewd.

I don’t know if you have found that the eye-catching slogan in the past has changed from “girls should be better to themselves” to “cheap and good things can have spring”.

In the past, it was necessary to catch the last bus of the trend of “light luxury”. Now, it is obvious that the concepts of “cost-effective”, “easy to use for a small number of people” and “conscientious domestic products” are more popular.

If you want to fit in with yourself, the consumption capacity is relatively limited, so everyone in generation Z is extremely smart.

1) All kinds of ways, find him, and it’s cheap

Before “buy, buy, buy”, become an expert through research, evaluation and word-of-mouth to find the best cost performance ratio.

From the fruit shell to Zhihu, from what is worth buying a little red book, whether it is the analysis of experts or the feeling of the public, it is a compulsory course for young people before consumption.

Data source: pole number

This is the reason why live broadcasting with goods is booming again and again, because it is “cheap”.

Therefore, there is no social attribute of mass consumer goods, then only cost-effective way to go.

Source: China Consumer Association

2) The whole consumption behavior, the key point is the secondary circulation

“Love the new but not hate the old” is a true portrayal of them.

For young people, there is no difference between first-hand shopping and second-hand trading – their consumption behavior is more “self pleasing”.

In the secondary circulation level, “pleasure oneself” is embodied in: pleasure oneself with price and value.

The second-hand goods are cheaper than the first-hand products. The prudent evaluation of the value price equivalence of the second-hand goods reflects their shrewdness and makes them happy with big brands. By reducing / avoiding the brand premium, you can get the satisfaction of big brand at low price, and satisfy the vanity in a relatively rational way; you can enjoy yourself with scarcity and uniqueness. Although the price is high, you can buy the long lost / out of print goods to gain the sense of ownership and the sense of achievement after “treasure hunting”. It is different from the view of the young people in the past that they should possess what they like.

3) Scenario transformation and agile response with the lowest cost

What is the essence of “go and go” travel?

Convenient and available 24-hour convenience stores and bookstores, anytime purchase of scheduled fitness courses, mobile space of mini singing bar, box horse fresh for convenient shopping and dining conversion, and live broadcast at any time with mobile phone.

What does it mean to young people?

It is not “convenient at any time” in the conventional sense, but maximizes the low-cost, flexible and anytime scene conversion.

Young people use their own smart to see, experience, adapt and promote all this.

These are the different “smart” of young people. For brands: don’t try to fool them!

4. Creation

This generation of young people has a stronger desire to participate in creation than any other generation.

The “sense of participation” in Xiaomi era is only to pull users into the process of product development and improvement in the past.

Today, participation in creation has become an essential lifestyle for generation Z consumption.

Participate in creating, scoring, commenting and sharing in the process of consumption, such as Taobao, public comments, where to go, Didi, etc. Participation in product innovation, such as: Coca Cola, jiangxiaobai, etc. Create social networking in the buying process. They believe that “consumption can bring the capital of talking and socializing, attract like-minded people in the circle, and successfully enter the social circle.” Pay attention to the creation of daily interaction: from sending text messages every new year and festival to accumulating social currency, helping volunteer recruitment of Music Festival, etc.; the barrage of station B is the ultimate creation. Participate in the construction of community communities, and even invest in brand building: Weilai, Anaya, etc. Daily and dynamic daily dramatic creation: self made expression bag, brain supplement background music, find rhythm in live short video; such as: various app of Meitu and Meiyan.

At present, the power of “creation” that you can’t perceive creates new creations in the digital age.

Create and Illusory Reality from oneself, and create daily life around one’s own feelings and wishes: create a good mood, create a good circle, create a good ceremony, each creation is an exploration of oneself; keen to buy blind boxes can also be understood as creating one’s own sense of surprise, satisfaction and happiness. For interest and true love of creation: from simple interest consumption to wholehearted devotion; staying at home to choose film and television books related to interest and enjoy simple happiness; if you like hip-hop culture, you should seriously learn authentic language and expression; if you like beauty, you should repeatedly study the beauty videos of various bloggers, master skills and try new products. Creation for the realization of output: from pure consumption input to being able to produce and make money. For example, if you like games, you can earn living expenses by live broadcasting; if you like movies, you can get contribution fees from film reviews; if you like food and cooking, you can sell a recipe on weekends; through deep vertical knowledge, you can produce fresh content experience, and so on. Infrastructure for releasing personal creativity is more popular. The unconventional experience created by collage and other techniques; for example, there is an impromptu upsurge of hip-hop in China, which misappropriates unrelated items and scenes, and station B mixed cutting is also a way of creation.

“Creation” has been integrated into the blood of generation Z.

5. Please yourself

In recent years, the topic “why more and more people choose to be single” continues to be a hot topic.

Among all the discussions, the most agreed view was “if love or marriage can’t bring me more happiness, then I’d prefer to keep a high quality single life”.

“A person should live a good life, but also delicate and warm”; “the house is rented, but life is not”; “life” and “live” are two different things.

“Yueji” consumption originated from “post-80s female white-collar workers” and flourished in the “new middle class”. Today, in the hands of the present generation Z.

In addition to the traditional “living a good life”, their “happy self” consumption has been endowed with its own characteristics by the times

1) Instant pleasure

Generation Z will bring instant happiness by owning the objects and scenes that you like, and constantly feel the instant happiness and beauty in life.

So we have the “Art Museum era” of commercial real estate and curatorial commerce, various online bookstores, blind boxes, paying for beauty, and enjoying tea For example: bubble mart, whose revenue has increased 10 times in three years.

2) Improvisation

Release pressure, stimulate creativity, improvisation is becoming a undercurrent.

Nowadays, the people’s impromptu performance commune in Beijing, the flying improvisation theater in Shanghai, and Jinling improvisation in Nanjing have long been the distribution centers for improvisation fans.

Most of them have nothing to do with acting, but they have taken improvisation as a hobby and even applied it to their work.

Of course, hip-hop and talk shows are even more improvisational.

3) Interactive pleasure

Mutual triggering of pleasure and inspiration: from boredom and embarrassment to interactive stimulation.

For example, brush a bullet screen in the same live broadcast room and record a big play together; for example, from killing time to mutual recognition, mild company, Douban friends and neighbors, calling together, opening black together and eating chicken together.

The “happy self” of generation Z is quite different from that of petty bourgeoisie.

In a word, with the globalization and socialization of information, scientific and technological innovation is springing out. The rapid integration of online and offline, consumerism is unprecedented, and digital life is firmly embraced. This generation of young people is not like what is described in various “reports”: superficial, living in the present, happy with yourself, bereaved.

Their consumption is more mature and rational: independent, exploration, creation, smart and happy themselves; they prefer multi touch, heavy experience and instant purchase according to their personal preferences; they know that their own values and brand connotation need to be integrated seamlessly.

That is to say, it is doomed to fail to treat today’s generation Z with the “consumers” and “users” of the past.

It’s also certain that the brand marketing method of advertising and showing off how young and cool you are will no longer work.

Continuous brand innovation is the key to stand in the future. If you can’t discover, explore, expand, lead and create young people’s physical and internal consumption needs, you may be eliminated.

Therefore, when various brands are talking about brand rejuvenation, please pay attention to:

When discussing how to make a brand younger, the word “younger” is both dangerous and practical. When you tell a generation Z that you are “young”, you can be sure that you are not young. Generation Z decides what is “young” by itself, which is not a feature that you can deliberately design and pursue. You have to rely on “young people” to “younger”.

In addition, there is no young brand in the world. In essence, the reason why it is a young online brand is that it is good at communicating with young people.

What’s more, a brand can grasp the needs of the younger generation not only depends on the brand’s younger advertising and product brainstorming, but also on the continuous self-examination of the organizational system and ecology, how to keep in touch with the ever-changing Z generation, and how to involve them to create and experience the brand.

In today’s China, there are countless young people who believe in such a prosperous dream: class solidification has not yet formed, and efforts may be made to become rich overnight.

Expect all brands to do the same!

Reference articles:

What is the consumption logic of young people? “

Consumer society

Nomadic youth, the new logic of young people’s consumption

The title is from unsplash, based on cc0 protocol;

Author: brand ape, source: everyone is a product manager (woshipm), reprinted has been authorized;

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What on earth are the young people “consuming”?