Why has “low-priced luxury” become the driving force behind men’s e-commerce consumption?

In traditional concepts, male consumers are often considered to have less spending power than women and children, but this phenomenon has been changing significantly in recent years. With the expansion of the male consumer market and the change in consumption habits, e-commerce platforms and brands are welcoming new growth opportunities.

Men, who were once criticized for having lower purchasing power rankings than women and children, have undergone significant changes in the consumer market in recent years: expansion of consumer areas, changes in consumption habits, the rise of e-commerce consumption... These changes have provided more market opportunities and challenges for platforms and brands.

In fact, on last year’s Double Eleven consumption list, data showed that male purchasing power exceeded the “pet economy” for the first time, becoming a new growth point for e-commerce platforms.

In this context, how can we grasp the needs and preferences of male consumers? How can we formulate targeted marketing and product strategies to successfully open up an innovative path in the male consumer market?

1. "High-end luxury" atmosphere + personality creation, fancy grasp of the men's clothing sales track

According to public data, the market size of China's men's clothing industry is 602.951 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 18.04%. From 2022 to 2027, the compound annual growth rate of China's men's clothing market size may reach 3.43%. In 2025, the men's clothing market size is expected to reach 620 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.04%, and in 2027 it is expected to exceed 740.1 billion yuan.

The male consumer market, which was neglected in the past, is gradually becoming active. It can be found that many brands and businesses have begun to grasp the men's clothing needs and develop innovative marketing methods suitable for men.

For example, @澳门COCO姐, her live broadcast style is unique. The live broadcast room is decorated with various high-end luxury items, and there are many assistants wearing suits and resembling bodyguards who appear in the live broadcast room from time to time to create an atmosphere.

When you first saw the live broadcast room, you might have thought that she was selling high-priced products. Unexpectedly, in this live broadcast room with such a big fanfare, most of the products sold were low-priced items such as underwear at 8 yuan a pair, toothbrushes at 1.9 yuan, and high-end pillows at 3.99 yuan. The slightly more expensive items were just her own brand "BB" short-sleeved sweatshirts at 69 yuan.

Image source: TikTok

@澳门COCO姐’s live broadcast room demonstrated the “ultimate value for money” and “super strong actor’s sense of belief”, creating a strong sense of contrast through “high-end luxury” packaging and titles, combined with the prices of a 2-yuan store on the street.

The conviction and dramatic performances of her and her assistants also made the live broadcast very interesting, attracting many netizens to watch. In the comment section, netizens often expressed their affirmation of this marketing model:

“Selling toothpicks feels like selling ivory”

"I'm a woman, and I feel touched by what I see. Just a few dollars is respected like this."

“Which genius first came up with this kind of live broadcast track?”

Image source: TikTok

Another person who is also doing well in this field is "Sister Haoqing". However, her style is not as passionate and heroic as @澳门COCO姐, but rather the Chinese old money style. "Sister Haoqing" often wears loose silk shirts, matched with various bracelets, creating a low-key yet luxurious atmosphere.

Image source: TikTok

In fact, long before @澳门COCO姐 and "豪情四姐", KaLanFort casual men's pants had already gained a wave of male market.

In the video account of KaLanFort casual men's pants, many female anchors with outstanding temperament are called "high-end sisters" by netizens. They constantly insert iconic slogans in the videos:

"A successful and prestigious man must have these pants in his wardrobe."

"For men who are pursuing success in big cities, wearing this is the most classy and prestigious thing."

Apart from "Gaoniao Jie", who else would treat you as a "boss", calling you a successful man, prestigious, and classy, ​​making people feel as if they are in the president's office. In the video, "Gaoniao Jie" directly controls netizens with her gentle and rhythmic tone and top-notch rhetoric.

Image source: video account comment area

In the "KaLanFort Casual Men's Pants" video, the hosts interspersed various weird and absurd tests in their explanations, such as cutting pants to check the fabric; using dry ice to test breathability; hanging pants with fishing rods to show how thin the fabric is; splashing paint to show how resistant the pants are to dirt... The domineering boss scenario + product display, emotional value and content go hand in hand, subtly "controlling" many male audiences.

Image source: Video screenshot

According to Douyin data, 71% of the @澳门COCO姐 account’s fans are male, and their ages are concentrated between 31 and 40 years old. Among the fans of “豪情四姐”, 74% are male, and their ages are also concentrated between 31 and 40.

@澳门COCO姐fan portrait

"Four Sisters of Pride" Fan Portraits

It is not difficult to find that the audiences and live broadcast data of these three live broadcast rooms are roughly the same. In fact, the underlying logic of their live broadcast tracks is also similar. The first is to accurately capture the male consumer psychology.

These three live broadcast rooms have keenly grasped the dual pursuit of quality and cost-effectiveness by male consumers, selected highly cost-effective products, and created a high-end luxury atmosphere. By satisfying the pursuit of "famous brands" and "successful people" by some male consumers, they use low-price strategies to attract them to place orders and increase purchase conversion rates.

The second is the strong provision of emotional value. @澳门COCO姐 once said that what she sells is not just goods, but also a kind of emotional value.

She creates an atmosphere and interacts with male consumers in the live broadcast room, allowing them to feel the joy and satisfaction of shopping.

Many netizens even directly commented, "I'll place an order just for you" and "What I buy is emotional value", which is enough to reflect the importance of emotional value in live streaming sales.

2. New changes in the male consumer market: digging deep into demand + emotional value is the way to go

According to data from a third-party platform, during @澳门COCO姐’s recent live broadcast, the highest sales in one live broadcast reached 25 million yuan.

Many spectators may watch for fun, and may even be curious and question who will place an order in these live broadcast rooms.

Image source: Tik Tok comments section

However, the data does show that a large number of male groups are being affected by this demand, which actually reflects the new changes in the male consumer market.

According to public data, as of April 2024, the monthly active scale of male mobile Internet users has reached 620 million, and the average monthly usage time per person has reached 157.1 hours.

In addition, the consumption capacity and willingness of male users are continuously increasing. The proportion of users with consumption capacity of more than 1,000 yuan has reached nearly 69%, and the proportion of users with medium and high consumption willingness exceeds 70%.

What is more noteworthy is that not only has men's willingness to consume online increased, but the men's clothing market has also ushered in development with the support of live streaming e-commerce, and domestic brands have gradually risen: in April 2024, the proportion of male users watching live broadcasts on Douyin and Kuaishou platforms reached 91.8% and 91.1% respectively; in terms of the proportion of sales of self-broadcast products of men's and women's clothing brands, the proportion of men's-related categories has increased significantly.

Accurately grasping male consumption needs and specifically providing cost-effective products that meet men's preferences are important prerequisites for these live broadcast rooms to keep abreast of the market pulse, win the favor of male consumers and obtain development opportunities.

In addition, whether it is @澳门COCO姐 or "高高姐", they can achieve results in the men's clothing track, stand from the male perspective, understand male needs, and satisfy their emotional values, which is also one of the important reasons why they attract many male groups to place orders.

In fact, Cloure's previous article "From Content to Consumption, Emotional Needs Leverage Male Users' Wallets" mentioned that the core driving force of male consumption has already shown new trends such as emotional value leveraging consumption.

Just like accounts such as @澳门COCO姐, KaLanFort闲男裤, and "豪情四姐" that have broken into new tracks, they start with content, combine male consumption needs, and create all kinds of eye-catching live broadcast scenes, scripts, and even plots. They grasp men's desire for high-end and taste, and sell cheap things with the personality of a tasteful and powerful female boss, giving men a strong sense of psychological satisfaction. This not only hits the pain points of the male market, but also satisfies the emotional value of some male groups.

The reason behind these phenomena is that the emotional concentration in the entire society is getting higher and higher. From releasing anxiety to yearning for relaxation, paying for emotions has also become a key factor in consumer decisions.

For other brand merchants, if they want to seize the new round of consumption trends, the key is to see the specific emotions hidden behind various consumption behaviors in such live broadcast rooms, understand the success of such live broadcast rooms, and boldly try to innovate, starting from different angles, and prescribe a "spiritual prescription" for them.

Nowadays, men’s shopping concepts are gradually breaking away from the traditional pragmatic framework and moving towards a stage that pays more attention to quality and experience.

When choosing products, male consumers are no longer satisfied with the standard of "good enough", but pay more attention to the product's design aesthetics, material texture, brand story and the unique experience it can bring. The male market is ushering in a diversified and refined consumption trend, which also indicates that quality has become the key to the core competitiveness of this field.

Therefore, in the face of this change, if we want to not just stop at temporary success but achieve sustained and steady development, we must work hard to improve quality and strive for excellence.

Conclusion

Deeply exploring demand + emotional value is the key to winning the market at present.

Based on Crawley's in-depth communication with many male consumer groups in the past, we found that male consumers are often more cautious and lengthy in the early consideration stage of the consumer decision-making process compared to female users.

This means that whether it is an e-commerce platform or a brand merchant, in order to effectively reach and stimulate the purchasing intention of male consumers, it is necessary not only to focus on the new trends emerging in the male consumer market that has often been underestimated in the past, and return to the consumption needs and consumption concepts of male consumers, but also to deeply understand and touch their inner emotional resonance, thereby shortening their decision-making cycle and improving conversion rates.

References:

2024 Male Consumption Insight Report: Monthly Active Users Exceed 620 Million/The Paper

Author: 77
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