New lifestyles conducive to upgrade of consumption
Consumption makes a key engine for economic growth, and the consumptive momentum shows people’s aspiration for a happy life. New business trends and activities are closely related to upgrade of consumption and potential for growth.
Yunnan has witnessed fast growth of new consumption over the years, and the general office of Yunnan provincial government recently issued a three-year action plan for fostering new-consumption activities and unleashing consumptive potentials (2021-2023).
The 22-point plan involves seven actions that are new, detailed, practical and inclusive, and it aims to meet new consumptive needs and ensure smooth flow of goods, injecting vigor into the new market and lifestyles in the province.
The climbing gym run by Tang Bin at Joy City shopping mall in Kunming (Photo provided to Yunnan Gateway)
“Moving-on” is fun and healthy
“Following the Tokyo summer Olympics, our climbing gym has seen a growing number of customers,” said Tang Bin, adding the Olympic Games resulted in a craze of sports.
Tang has been running an indoor climbing gym in Kunming, Yunnan province since 2016, when sport climbing was added to the Olympic events at Tokyo 2020.
“The customers are mostly the post-1985 parents and their kids, as well as the white collar workers who came here to relax themselves in leisure time,” added Tang.
Actually, Yunnan is better known as a destination for outdoor rock-climbing worldwide. The mountainous province boasts diverse sites for rock-climbers to select.
For the teenagers, however, the indoor climbing that requires nothing but rock shoes, helmets and belay devices seems to have formed a trend, and Tang believed that more youngsters would try this new sports and keep moving on the “crags”.
Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. “Compared with other brands, Decathlon offers products that are more diverse and cost-effective, making it a first choice in our family outing or kids exercise,” said a Kunminger surnamed Zhang.
As a faithful fan of the French brand, Zhang has a collection of Decathlon goods in his house, ranging from camping tents to swimming goggles.
A Decathlon store at the Dayuecheng, or Joy City shopping mall in Kunming (Photo provided to Yunnan Gateway)
“Our goods are not only cheaper but also smarter. By joining hands with the Coros watch maker, we have rolled out a USB badminton bat that can record the swing speed and the motion curve,” said Chen Huaijin, person in charge of a Decathlon store at the Joy City shopping mall in Kunming.
Chen added sports bloggers play a key role in boosting consumption of sports products, including the tiny parts of sport devices and the ones with higher operating requirements. With the popularity of the internet, sports bloggers will encourage more to keep moving.
Since Kunming was listed in 2020 as a national pilot city for sports consumption, it has been an engine for Yunnan to “keep moving”, giving rise to new consumption driven by sports-related businesses.
Earlier this year, the State Council issued a circular to push forward a new five-year extensive mass fitness program, spanning from 2021 to 2025, and coupled with Olympic promotional events, the traditionally less-known sports have come into the sight of the public.
“First stores” lead consumption trends
“I frequently check on the WeChat network to see if there are newly-opened first stores at the Shuncheng shopping plaza,” said Ai Xi, a 27-year-old Kunming girl who keeps an eye on trends of fashion.
A girl shops at a first store at the Shuncheng mall in Kunming. (Photo provided to Yunnan Gateway)
The first stores have formed new modes of business, and Shuncheng in downtown Kunming has taken the “first-shop economy” as a way to enhance competitiveness and new consumption. A total of 27 first stores have been opened at the shopping mall, involving the retail, catering and culture sectors.
Wang Mengli, the Shuncheng acting deputy general manager, said consumers nowadays attached greater importance to the quality of products and services, and the first stores at the shopping mall have invited in locals, tourists and other consumers.
“The newly-opened stores need to identify the likes and dislikes of local consumers,” said Wang, adding the brands with great fame, teamwork and innovation are welcome to have presence at Shuncheng. The mall also showed its willingness in cultivating local business brands with cultural implications and interactive features.
Wang noted two newly-opened stores at Shuncheng in the interview. The smaller one is a Korean fashion store called Chuu, selling women’s wears. With original design and reasonable price, the garments gained popularity among Kunming females, and the sales at Chuu is twice greater than that of a traditional store.
Consumers shop at Shicui market at the Shuncheng shopping plaza in Kunming (Photo courtesy/Shicui)
The bigger Shicui market place covers 3,000 square meters, employing over 60 craftsmen and 30 plus designers. Based on its decade long experiences in teamwork, the market has held diverse cultural events for youngsters from different cultural backgrounds to meet each other.
“Shuncheng has upgraded the facilities and beautified the environment over the past two years, in a bid to render it into a garden-like shopping mall,” explained Wang, adding Shuncheng was appealing to famed brands thanks to its favorable location, logistic services and operational abilities.
Have you got “immersive experiences"?
The phrase “immersive experiences” has been a buzz word in the consumptive situations of game bars, theatres and restaurants. Featuring a strong sense of interaction, the real-time services allow consumers to get responses.
The Sanqian immersive experiencing bar in Kunming (Li Ling/Yunnan Daily)
The virtual murder mystery is a popular experience-based game among Yunnan folks. In the online game, participants play the roles in the script and finish the assigned tasks under the help of a host.
Ms. Luo, a staffer at the Sanqian immersive experiencing bar in Kunming, said Jubensha or the murder-mystery game has become increasingly popular because of the immersive experiences based on front-projected holographic display.
The players are mostly students, some of whom were accompanied by parents. Since the games usually include multiple roles, teenagers came to the Sanqian bar in groups. Sometimes the youngsters are strangers and the bar managers would let them try some “ice-breaking” games first to get to know each other. Virtual murder-mystery games have become an effective means for young people to socialize.
“We were immersed in a science-fiction script when the host quietly took out a blue-tooth speaker and played music in tune with the situation, cheering up all players in the bar,” said Xiaokua, a Yunnan media professional who has been in love with the experience-based game earlier this year.
Rehearsal of the ‘one man one story’ troupe (Photo provided by the interviewee)
“One man one story” is another immersive and experience-based drama. In the impromptu show, the players are expected to act out the stories told by the audience present, without any preparation.
“What matters is that the art form created a bond between people,” said Wu Qiong, head of the ‘one man one story’ troupe, adding the actors will soon be close to the audience who told stories of their own life experiences.
Wu noted that the latest shows won praises from the audience, two of whom were moved to tears by their own stories.
Some commented that the reason why the story-telling has formed people-to-people bonds is that the performances can exert an unexpected healing effect. Funny stories are usually shared outdoors, while hard lessons in life are told indoors.
Unlike the murder-mystery game that is mostly aimed at youngsters, “One man one story” covers children, teenagers, the mid-aged and even seniors. So long as you have a story, it will be listened to with great care and thus becomes a bond among people.
Reporting by Bi Yiqian, Liu Ziyu and Li Ling (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue