Young people are starting to consume in reverse!

Young people who engage in reverse consumption will bring new changes to the consumer market.

As expected, the consumption tendency of young people is the direction that brands pay attention to and focus on. Today, the Weibo topic #Young people start to consume in reverse# ranked No. 1 in the hot search, and the behavior of young people "saving money in revenge" generated more than 240 million readings and more than 132,000 discussions. At present, this data is still rising rapidly.

According to Mr. Bingfa's analysis, the reason why there is a reverse consumption trend among young people is closely related to factors such as consumer psychology, income, hobbies, habits, and the Double 11 year-end promotion that brands are currently facing. Some young people have weakened social needs, are more pragmatic , have their own new consumption principles, and are gradually tired of spending money to show off their wealth, so they choose reverse consumption.

Some people believe that young people’s income has dropped sharply, they have no savings, and they choose to tighten their spending and focus on high cost-effectiveness and special offers.

Some people think that this is a "subterfuge" by the media, trying to use new marketing concepts/vocabulary to attract consumers . In fact, young people today are becoming more frugal.

Others believe that young people are more sophisticated in their consumption and have mastered the code for brand premium. They do not want to be taken advantage of and believe that flea market products are more affordable and worth purchasing.

However, some consumers believe that this is a precursor to the Double 11 warm-up , and it clearly explains the platform's marketing strategy in recent years' year-end promotions. It wants to attract consumers with special prices, subsidies, and free shipping for 9.9 yuan. It is currently brainwashing young people with reverse consumption, expecting them to choose cost-effective platforms and products.

The extremely high level of user attention and discussion proves that the consumption tendencies of young people have indeed changed. So what exactly is reverse consumption?

1. What exactly is reverse consumption?

Reverse consumption does not mean not consuming, but rather that consumers' consumption behavior tends to be more rational, in sharp contrast to wild consumption. That is, when enjoying services or selecting goods, consumers not only consider factors such as brand, price, and quality, but also pay more attention to their own real needs and the cost-effectiveness of the product itself.

Obviously, the emergence of "reverse consumption" is a significant change in the consumption concept of young people. They no longer rely on the consumption concepts of "more expensive is better" and "money knows goods", but put forward more requirements for brands. Driven by the "reverse consumption" model, factors such as super high product quality, practicality, and cost-effectiveness help improve consumers' quality of life and happiness, and act on the spiritual consumption needs of young people. This also requires the marketing of brands and the business strategies of platforms to change in line with the consumption trends of young people.

2. What are the significant characteristics of reverse consumption?

Compared with the traditional consumption concepts of "expensive things are better" and "people don't know the value of things, but money knows the value of things", the reverse consumption tendency of young people today still has obvious characteristics.

Focus on quality and practicality: It is not difficult to see from the hot comments of netizens that young people nowadays choose reverse consumption, begin to pay attention to the quality and practicality of the products themselves, and put forward higher requirements on the performance and actual use effects of the products. At the same time, they are more cautious in choosing brands and high-end products.

Consumption behavior tends to be rational: Compared with impulsive consumption, current reverse consumption is significantly different from wild consumption, that is, consumers will conduct more objective and calm analysis when purchasing goods or services, choose products through multi-directional comparison, and pursue the consumption concept of "save when you should save, spend when you should spend" in order to choose products/services that are more suitable for them. Data shows that the consumption desire of young people has not decreased, the average customer price has decreased, but the consumption frequency has increased.

Pay attention to cost performance: High cost performance has always been one of the selling points of domestic products, which makes young consumers favor domestic products and pay special attention to the cost performance of products. At the same time, consumers will also compare products in many ways, comprehensively consider the price, quality and performance of products/services, and then choose the best product.

At the same time, the resurgence of domestic products and the popularity of near-expiry products in the market also prove that consumers pay attention to cost-effectiveness and expect to achieve their expectations of not downgrading their consumption with less expenditure. Moreover, the prices of near-expiry products are discounted, and product safety and consumption standards are not discounted. It can be seen that high cost-effectiveness affects young consumers. Real needs are the premise of purchase: impulse consumption is often a whim. Even if there is a 7-day no-reason return policy on the e-commerce platform to protect consumers, the time and energy costs incurred in the return and exchange process also make young people gradually tired. The current popular reverse consumption is that consumers pay more attention to their personal needs and consumption preferences, and put their real needs first in the selection process to find products or services that suit them, so as to reduce their own energy consumption.

3. What changes have the changes in young people’s consumption tendencies brought to the market?

It is an indisputable fact that young people’s consumption concepts have changed. They have begun to reflect on their own consumerism and pay more attention to real consumption needs. What changes has this change brought to the consumer market?

First, young people are beginning to trust smart recommendations.

The change in young people's consumption concepts is due to the promotion of digital technology on e-commerce platforms, which can provide consumers with the best options and prompt young people to believe in products recommended by big data and gradually rely on the intelligent recommendations of consumer platforms, thereby accelerating the rise of reverse consumption.

Secondly, there are more cost-effective consumption channels in the market.

The promotion of digital technology has also prompted e-commerce platforms to change according to changes in consumer demand, by establishing low-price/high cost-effective consumption windows such as "one-yuan purchase", "special sale area", "everyday good price", "pay postage trial", "10 billion subsidies", etc., such as the popular Luckin Coffee 9.9 yuan event this year, and the user behaviors such as "special forces travel" and "City walk" that have emerged before, all reflect the driving force of experience and cost-effectiveness on market consumption. Let personalized consumption, brand quality and consumer demand with excellent experience become the future development direction of the brand.

In fact, the emergence and development of reverse consumption is of great significance to promoting the healthy development of the consumer market. On the one hand, reverse consumption can help consumers rationally plan their personal consumption and reduce unnecessary waste and blind consumption. On the other hand, consumers can choose products that meet their needs, which can also improve their consumption quality and quality of life, and provide new ideas for brand marketing and product consumption.

Author: Mr. Bingfa

Source: WeChat public account "Marketing Art of War"

This article is authorized by @銷兵法 to be published on 運動派. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.