Middle-aged people seeking wealth fill 798 Night Market

The crowded night market has become a paradise for vendors. What kind of mentality do young people have when they come to the night market in the hot summer? The vendors of small stalls rely on selling various snacks to boost the night market economy. Can they really get rich by relying on the booming summer economy?

The Beijing night market is exceptionally lively this summer.

Xiaoyu, who went to "enjoy the nightlife", told Value Planet that because there were too many people visiting the night market at 798, she waited for half an hour to go home at 10 pm but couldn't get a ride-hailing car: "The queue in front showed dozens of people."

The unprecedented enthusiasm for offline cultural and entertainment life is the main reason for the crowds at major night markets in Beijing.

The crowded night market has become a paradise for stall owners and vendors.

“To catch the bustle of the night market, we have to hurry up and sell as much as possible. I heard that some (stall owners) sell tens of thousands of items in one night.” said a stall owner selling barbecue.

Apparently, there are many exciting and vivid "wealth legends" circulating among the busy circle of night market stall owners, and many people are also trying to create wealth in the summer night market economy.

In addition to most of the "professional vendors", there are also some amateur vendors and even retired elderly couples with gray hair. Most of them hope to earn some pocket money by relying on the rising popularity of the night market.

Why is Beijing's "night market economy" so prosperous now? What kind of mentality do young people have when walking through the night market in the hot summer? Can stall owners who sell all kinds of snacks, drinks, and small accessories really get rich by relying on the hot summer economy?

1. Can you get rich overnight by setting up a stall at a night market?

At nine o'clock in the evening, the brightly lit 798 night market is full of the atmosphere of fireworks.

The several clearly divided streets are crowded with various snack vendors and crowds of consumers who come to "find food". There are long queues in front of some popular stalls.

Young people queuing in front of a night market stall

There are many kinds of snacks sold in the night market, including Guangdong rice noodle rolls, pan-fried buns, grilled squid and other common snacks in tourist attractions across the country, as well as alcoholic beverages such as red wine and snow pears, craft beer and other popular among young trendy people. Even the stalls selling stinky tofu use the concept of "national trend stinky tofu" to attract customers.

In addition to numerous snack stalls, there are also cultural and creative dolls for sale, even a stall selling armor and a "perfume party shop".

"We were ready to come at 3pm because the official opening time was 4pm," said a young couple selling milk tea drinks. They signed up for the night market early, "but in reality people only start to come after 6pm. And this is the weekend. If you're working, there will be more people after 7pm or 8pm."

The busiest "sales window" can only last about three hours: "After 10 o'clock, there is almost no one, so we prepare to pack up and go home."

They felt that although their stalls were doing OK, they were far from being the most popular and the ones that made the most money. At the stall next to theirs, an old man who was preparing the goods also said with envy: "When sales are good, some people can make 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a night."

They can earn a few hundred a day, or even thousands or tens of thousands a day. But even if they set up stalls in the same night market, the circumstances of different stalls may vary greatly.

It is said that in Beijing's night market circles, many stall owners have made their fortunes by setting up stalls. On one hand, there are small three-wheeled vehicles for preparing food and transporting goods; on the other hand, a few stall owners' daily vehicles have been upgraded to luxury cars such as Tesla and Audi.

The stall owners at the night market are mainly between 20 and 40 years old, but there are also a few elderly people.

"We are retired and have nothing to do in the evening, so our friends informed us and signed us up," said an auntie who sells desserts.

She and her husband sell desserts at the night market. The categories are relatively simple and the sales are relatively limited. Then, she told us that from the evening till now, they have sold 20 to 30 desserts.

In fact, it is not very advantageous for the elderly to set up stalls in night markets. Especially in trendy night markets such as 798, where the majority of people are young people, stalls are more likely to be more "attractive" and attract more traffic.

Whether it is product selection or stall location choice, amateur "hobbyists" are often not as good as "professional night market stall owners", who can better touch traffic and selling points.

Although 798 has attracted the attention of young people due to its popularity on the Internet, Beijing’s “night market economy” has never been limited to 798.

Especially in the first half of this year, many night market economies have gradually "recovered" this summer, and the flow of people has also increased sharply.

"Last year we were still pushing carts and setting up roadside stalls, but this year there are more and more systematic markets."

"Last year, we only had car trunk stalls and the equipment was very simple. This year, many friends I know have started to use tents, tables and chairs, and light boxes. The overall situation has been upgraded."

Some young people who joined the stall owners since last summer told Value Planet.

According to the inventory of Value Planet, the night markets that are popular among young people and have become increasingly lively recently include: the internet-famous night market "Sunset Market" next to the Huimin Vegetable Market in Tongzhou, the "Shenghuatun Night Market" in Wangsiying Township, the "Easystar Night Market" near Sunhe in Shunyi, and the Crab Island Resort, etc.

There are a lot of promotional videos and posts about these night markets on major social media platforms. Many people even drive dozens of kilometers to find the "Zangtan Night Market Street" in groups.

On the one hand, there are more and more night markets where one can set up stalls to make money, and their scale is getting bigger and bigger; on the other hand, the cases of people becoming rich overnight by setting up stalls at night markets are still only a minority.

However, as night markets become more and more popular, it naturally brings benefits to stall owners: low-cost stalls can quickly gain a foothold through the "night market economy" and earn their "first pot of gold".

Compared with the fixed costs of opening offline physical stores, such as store rent, the average daily stall fee at the night market is approximately 200 yuan, which seems extremely controllable.

Adding the cost of machines and raw materials, the total investment is about several thousand yuan. A stall owner told us that their main source of goods is large wholesale markets or online shopping platforms. As for equipment, many second-hand equipment comes from transfers from other stall owners.

For most stall owners, even if they cannot become extremely popular and rich, the risks are relatively small.

"Many of my colleagues lost money opening offline stores and came back to set up stalls." A stall owner said that setting up stalls at night markets has always been the fastest way for businesses to "recover."

Tempting night market snacks

2. Internet celebrity traffic boosts the "night market economy"

"Challenge 100 yuan to eat at night markets", "Check in at the hottest night markets in Beijing", "Guide to the top ten night markets in Beijing"...

Many short video platforms have attracted a large number of local life anchors, which has become a natural way to attract traffic for the night market economy.

Many influencers with their own fans even said in their videos that if they mentioned that they would get "discounts and offers" when buying things at night markets, this way of attracting traffic from influencers has also become one of the reasons for the current boom in the night market economy.

Image source: Screenshot of the online platform

In attracting consumers, relying on online promotion has become a common practice for organizers. In addition, the organizing role of the organizer is particularly important.

In the process of recruiting stall owners, the organizer is responsible for the review; and when facing consumers, the organizer also bears the extremely critical responsibility of attracting traffic.

If the organizer fails to attract customers or the organization is chaotic, the number of merchants in the entire venue will decrease. Many merchants may even withdraw from the event or ask the organizer to postpone the event, refund the fees, etc.

Night markets that ultimately become quite popular are often because their organizers have done a relatively complete job in both “recruiting” and “traffic diversion”.

Recruitment information of major Beijing night markets in public and private channels

In addition to the boost from short video platforms and internet traffic, the cultural background of night markets is now becoming increasingly rich.

For example, the 798 Night Market is also known as the "3,000-year-old Amusement Park". One of the organizers is the Oracle Culture Festival. This combination of art and amusement park is exactly what young people like. In addition, the 798 Art District, China World Mall and other busy areas have a large flow of people, and their "popularity" will be more conducive to the development of the nearby "night market economy".

On the merchant investment side, most of them still come from traditional private domain referrals, that is, the "people-to-people" model.

In a city cluster with hundreds of people, a post about “Recruiting high-quality carnival stall owners” attracted the attention of many vendors.

The recruitment categories mentioned include: Internet celebrity snacks, local specialty snacks, cultural and creative products, intangible cultural heritage projects, etc., as well as recruitment of stalls for handicrafts, small games, etc.

In the recruitment announcement, the organizer also specifically mentioned "strict product control" and "later product additions and replacements require strict review".

In fact, the more popular the night market is, the higher the entry standards will be.

"It's easy to sign up at the beginning, but later if you want to come in after the market becomes popular, you may even have to pay an entry fee of 30,000 yuan per stall." A stall owner told Value Planet.

Both consumers and excellent stall owners will gather in the more lively night markets.

There are even some "professional stall owners" who will set up their own stalls in different night markets. In this way, they need more manpower to help them achieve large-scale operations.

"In the part-time job quotation group, there will be information about part-time stalls, such as '5pm-11pm, 30 yuan per hour with dinner included'," a merchant who has joined many night market group chats told Value Planet. "Most of them are residents living nearby, mostly middle-aged women."

This group of people who rely on part-time work at night markets and the noisy crowds on summer nights to earn money to supplement their family income have given rise to a part-time economy nearby.

Part-time recruitment information in the mutual aid group

3. What is the future of summer night markets?

"It really feels like there's a lot of popularity this time, and people are willing to come from far away to join in the fun." Several young people who came from Haidian were having a great time strolling around the night market.

Although they do not fully approve of the taste of the night market food, they are still very satisfied with the overall atmosphere. Compared with the "hand-made lemon tea in the trunk" last summer, this year's night market is obviously more interesting and larger in scale.

“It’s quite common to see a dozen small stalls squeezed in front of the shopping mall. Only these crowded barbecue and beer stalls can have the atmosphere of summer fireworks!” said Xiaoyu, who also came to experience the 798 Night Market.

She has experienced more exquisite shopping mall stalls in other commercial centers, but she feels that relying on exquisiteness is far less attractive than relying on being "down-to-earth".

Most of the tourists who come to the night market are similar to Xiaoyu, who mainly come to stroll around, and it is a way for residents to relax on summer nights.

798 Night Market at night

The merchants and stall owners here seem to know that most consumers are "one-time customers", so they have come up with more eye-catching advertising gimmicks. Merchants pay more attention to the appearance of food and beverages, but as for the specific taste, people don't have a high opinion of many stalls.

"A skewer of squid costs 30 yuan, which is expensive and not tasty." said A Ting, who had diarrhea after eating at the night market.

After experiencing Beijing night markets, she and her friends began to have doubts about the quality of the food: some of the barbecue dishes were particularly salty, and they suspected that the heavy flavors were being used to cover up something.

Another vendor who once set up a stall, Brother Ming, told us the secret: "The most popular item at the market is grilled squid, and many vendors want to make money from it. However, since raw squid cannot be kept fresh on the stalls, and when there are many people, they want it to be ready quickly, so the grilling time is not enough. Therefore, the quality of the food cannot be guaranteed in many cases."

In fact, most night market stalls sell food that is "freshly made and sold". If the quality control is poor, food safety risks are inevitable.

Although, as the night market economy becomes more and more standardized, many markets have begun to have qualification requirements for food sellers. However, in the actual operation process, there are still many potential risks. This is undoubtedly a difficult problem that many night markets must face while being popular.

Therefore, the degree of standardization of the night market economy, as well as whether the management and drainage are in place, will affect the long-term operation of the night market economy.

Summer is the most suitable time for night market economy. Various barbecues, ice drinks, ice powder, beer and wine can take advantage of the hot summer breeze to achieve extremely high sales. As autumn and winter come, many stall owners will turn to roasted pears, roasted chestnuts, roasted sweet potatoes and other categories, which are also very popular, but summer open-air night markets often have a stronger gathering effect.

Although the night market economy has various problems, for most young people in the city, having a few places to go shopping and relax, and spending summer nights with a few good friends is still a pleasure enough to enjoy.

The cultural composition of a city is inseparable from its night market. After all, everyone longs for a place full of fireworks to relax and rest.

Author: Guo Zhaochuan, Editor: Bell

Source: Public Account: Value Planet (ID: ValuePlanet), discovering company value and telling capital stories.