Chao News client writer Zhang Yiying Ye Xiaoxi.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the holiday is more than halfway through, but the excitement of the year is still there.
At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, at the lantern market in Caocun Town, Ruian City, Ni Ripao, who was wearing a big flower jacket, followed the team members to shout at the camera and light in front of him: "Family, is it lively to watch the big set?" The anchor takes everyone to visit the ......”
At the same time, at the lakeside art market by the West Lake in Hangzhou, stall owner Jin Jigui (pseudonym) quietly watched passers-by from his stall, "Many times they just look at it, but they don't buy it." ”
The city and the countryside, he and him, two parallel lines, never intersected. However, because of the word "market", there are many commonalities.
Caocun Lantern Market. Photo by Sharing Alliance Ryan Sun Rin.
The concept of a "marketplace" is not new to people. From the initial extensive exhibition of the mass market, to today's subdivided, exquisite niche market, this change is called "market revival" by young people. The market full of fireworks is a business model that has existed since ancient times, and at the moment when social ** is prevalent, the market has been given a new form - a rare and rare "Internet celebrity check-in point" that can even be used as a marketing selling point to attract consumers to come to take pictures.
In the context of expanding new consumption scenarios, tapping consumption hotspots, and unleashing consumption potential, markets with obvious economic attributes not only lead new consumption, but also provide young people with new social methods and new platforms for entrepreneurship and employment. However, it is undeniable that in the process of being endowed with a new cultural connotation, how to accelerate the growth of the ancient business form of the market with the local culture and how to get rid of homogenization is a new test that needs to be solved urgently.
Traffic: How to play the marketplace?
The day before the Spring Festival, when we came to the "Lakeside Art Market" located on the lakeside of Hangzhou, the sky was dripping with a light rain. Perhaps because of the rain, the streets that should be bustling and noisy are much colder than usual.
On the street and at the end of the street, there is a stall selling flowers. Wenwen (pseudonym), a post-00s generation, is the part-time person in charge of one of the stalls and has been setting up a stall in this market for more than 10 days. Looking at the sparse pedestrians on the street, she wondered if she should close the stall earlier.
After graduating from university last year, Wenwen went to Hangzhou to find a job. Because the company took an early vacation before the year, it happened that someone in the WeChat circle of friends posted the information of the part-time booth leader, and she thought that there was still some time before the Chinese New Year, and she would go back to her hometown after taking a part-time job. "I studied design in college, and I was usually interested in learning floral art, so I could take the opportunity to practice my hands. She said.
In the booth in charge of Wenwen, there are more than 10 types of flowers, all of which are common varieties on weekdays, and the prices range from 5 yuan to 19 yuan per stick, which is similar to the ** of ordinary physical stores. When the customer picks the flowers, she will help with the packaging and styling. "People usually buy flowers either by booking online or by seeing them on the spot. Wenwen said that the stall usually has a good business, and there can be more than 1,000 yuan of running water a day, "On a rainy day like this, there are fewer people, and it probably sells for less than 500 yuan a day." ”
On the evening of January 29th, there is an art market on the lakeside. Photo by reporter Zhang Yiying.
From the ** fountain to the six parks, there is a row of more than 100 stalls on the shore of the West Lake, some selling original jewelry, some selling aromatherapy and sugar paintings, which together form the lakeside art market. The geographical position here is superior, and it has the natural advantage of "drainage" in the West Lake Scenic Area.
It can also be seen by looking at many social platforms. Netizens checking in to the art market on the lakeside abound, and many "little sisters" and "little brothers" come here to take beautiful pictures, and then send a circle, which has become a "Hanger style". Like Xiaohongshu, a netizen commented: "Here you can live a casual and comfortable life like the Song people, while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the West Lake."
During the interview, we met Xiao Wang, a post-90s generation from Liaocheng, Shaanxi Province, who and her companions were wearing Hanfu and stopped in front of a stall selling antique-style hairpins. ”
Not only in the city, but also in the countryside.
On January 30, in Cao Village, Ruian, Wang Xinyu, who returned to his hometown during the winter vacation at nightfall, took his parents to visit the lantern market.
Although he is a local, what is unexpected is that Wang Xinyu first learned about the information about this market from social platforms.
I swiped to the lantern market in Xiaohongshu and came. Wang Xinyu told us that she had been to a lot of "city markets" before, but in comparison, she preferred to "catch the big market" in the village, because there was no high-level "scientific and technological work" here: "Like the soy sauce meat, dried sweet potatoes, and mustard rice sold in the stalls here, they are all the taste of my childhood, and I can't eat them anywhere else." ”
Sugarcane stained with mud, cucumber with guati ......These are all vegetables and fruits grown by nearby villagers. Along the way, Wang Xinyu and his family took photos in front of various lanterns and food stalls. Subsequently, she posted a collection of "Catch the market, visit the lantern festival, and look for childhood memories together" on her Douyin account. It didn't take long for him to receive a lot of "little red hearts" likes.
Walking around the market, we found that many young people only stop to take pictures and check in, but they don't really spend much.
Compared with physical stores and online stores, the competitiveness of the marketplace is **?
Flow, or flow. ”
An industry insider believes that at present, many markets, especially creative markets, provide a platform for social experience, cultural exchanges and art display, and the social attributes of the market are stronger than the commercial attributes, "like before there was an independent designer in the market to display his design of Hanfu, the average price is more than 1,000 yuan, although the on-site transaction volume is not much, but through this platform to communicate with everyone, he has gained a lot of fans, and the follow-up sales volume of his own ** is also growing." ”
Tang Sheng (pseudonym), born in the 80s, also agrees with this. In 2021, he attended a Plant B Autumn Market at the Hangzhou Botanical Garden, where he only bought two cups of coffee and two mini badges made from bread crumbs, but he remembered two farm brands through the market. In the years that followed, he would often buy goods from the official ** of the two farms.
Industry insiders pointed out that with the development of the economy and society, the best items are no longer scarce, and the consumption scene of citizens has also undergone great changes. Many market organizers have taken a fancy to the traffic password, and created a positive and active interactive atmosphere through interactive activities, exhibitions, performances and other forms, increasing customer participation and retention, and enhancing social and human touch. At the same time, highlight the theme culture, create IP, and implement a set of comprehensive marketing methods to continuously attract people.
Experiment: What can you buy for 100 yuan?
Today, the creative marketplace is experiencing a "market renaissance".
According to data from Meituan and Dianping, since 2023, the search volume of keywords related to "bazaar" has increased by about 100% compared with the previous year, and the number of reviews and notes on Dianping has increased by 912%, and the number of comments increased by 99% over the previous year. Shanghai, Chengdu, Changchun, Xi'an, and Changsha are the top five cities in the search. Among them, consumers aged 20 to 35 accounted for the largest proportion, reaching 734%。
However, with the blowout development of the market, the mixed market chaos has gradually emerged. Consumers have mixed opinions about the browsing and shopping experience in the marketplace. Search casually on Xiaohongshu, and you can find a lot of "lightning protection" posts:
Many so-called "original handicrafts" are sold in the market and the price difference between the price on e-commerce platforms can be as much as 20 times;
Many market activities that require the purchase of tickets have very few stalls after the actual entry, which has attracted netizens to complain that "it doesn't take 10 minutes to walk around" and "it's lonely".
A Jiangsu tourist recently went to check in at the Lotte Market in Jingdezhen, and after coming back, he called "can't climb high": "You need to queue up to buy a ticket to enter the venue, 50 yuan a piece, and the place is not big. ”
To this end, we did an experiment - what can you buy in the market for 100 yuan?
In Hangzhou Lakeside Youyi Market, we spent 60 yuan to buy a finger painting, and then used 39 yuan to buy a scented wax tablet, and the remaining 1 yuan really couldn't find a place to go;
In the Ruian Caocun Lantern Market, there are many products to choose from: a sugarcane costs 20 yuan, cut and filled with a big bag, 4 rock sugar gourds totaling 40 yuan, a bag of fried chestnuts 20 yuan, and finally you can spend 20 yuan to play balloons at the game booth;
A snack street at the Caocun Lantern Market. Photo by reporter Ye Xiaoxi.
In the Wencheng Dayu New Year's Market, we bought a large bag of local "local goods" for 100 yuan: a bag of golden silk chrysanthemum is 20 yuan, a thick and strong glutinous rice yam is 25 yuan, a bottle of soil honey is 15 yuan, a pound of yellow rice cake is 25 yuan, a bag of sweet potato vermicelli is 10 yuan, and finally spent 5 yuan to taste a small cup of bayberry wine brewed by farmers themselves;
In the old bottom market in Hangzhou Dama Lane, we bought a 20 yuan fried crispy fish, a 10 yuan red bean stuffed rice dumplings, two cups of 5 yuan sweet wine, 1 kg of cherries 38 yuan, 6 yuan a pair of green onion stews and 6 fried buns for 1 yuan.
Compared with the old base market and the village market, 100 yuan can play much less space in the urban creative market. The post-90s Xianbei (pseudonym) had impulsively consumed in a creative market in the center of Hangzhou before: "I bought a bouquet of flowers at that time, and then I thought about it** It is more expensive than the flower shop, and the quality is worse than the store, so I paid for the current mood." ”
But some stall owners expressed their helplessness. "The monthly booth fee here is 6,500 yuan, and it is not expensive to rent a painting for 60 yuan a quarter, but now there are fewer people willing to pay for art. Jin Jigui said that his stall sells handmade paintings, and the stall rate and sales in the market are unstable, and there can be thousands of yuan of daily water on holidays, but on normal or rainy days, there is not much business. He said that the goods at each stall are very different and the interests of consumers are also different, but most people still visit the market with an attitude of viewing and buying.
Regarding stimulating consumers' desire to shop, Jin Jigui believes that the traffic of the market has but there is not much "retention". "You see the people coming and going by the West Lake, if there are a few small tables and small stools in the market, and you can sit there and drink coffee, you will feel that it will come up after a while. He said that he had set up a stall in Nanjing Market for a while, "There is a good atmosphere, and everyone's enthusiasm for consumption is high." ”
An industry insider told us that originally, most of the market activities organized by the local streets and ** were free, and a small number of them would give subsidies to stall owners in order to gather popularity. Nowadays, however, most markets are handled by event planning companies, and the increase in the number of markets has led to the diversion of traffic to individual markets, and for organizers with fixed venue costs, booth fees have also risen to maintain income. In the market he participated in, the daily booth fee was 200 yuan, and sometimes the daily turnover was less than 100 yuan, plus transportation, costs and other expenses, and he lost more than 100 yuan a day. "The high stall fee has squeezed the profit space of the stall owners, if they do not increase their profits, the stall owners will become the leeks that are harvested, so some stall owners say that the wholesale goods are original, and the purchase price of 30 yuan is sold to 300 yuan, which also makes many consumers have a worse and worse impression of the market. He said.
Bottleneck: Young people are not fooled?
In the past two years, Xianbei stopped visiting the market because he felt that "young people are not easy to fool".
In ancient times, wasn't the reason why markets appeared because there were goods that you couldn't usually see? Xianbei said that the starting point of young people's love to visit the market is to want to check in the freshest things, rather than to see something that can be bought anywhere, "As a 'difficult' young person, such as buying tea sets, I have requirements for categories, ordinary ceramics can't fool me, I want to buy more personalized tea sets, so ordinary markets can't meet me." ”
In this regard, Tang Sheng also felt the same way. He believes that in order to gather popularity, many markets now set up some stalls, and then fill in the content without planning, "Like a village market I went to before, when I first entered, I felt very 'earthy', very lively, and very novel, but after walking around, I found that it was all snacks that can be eaten in various markets, and there was nothing new in the content." ”
Behind the lively scenery of the diversified development of the market, the lack of creativity, serious product homogeneity, and lack of overall planning are the embarrassments that many urban and rural markets are facing. Judging from most of the current markets, the threshold for holding is low and the quality is not high, which makes people feel the same, and it is inevitable to produce "aesthetic fatigue". Therefore, how to make this kind of market truly unique has aroused the attention of the industry.
Huang Liuying, an associate professor at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at the School of Management of Zhejiang University, said in an interview with Chao News that in order to save young people's "aesthetic fatigue" of the market, it is possible to create an independent brand, enhance brand content and brand narrative capabilities, highlight the brand image with attitude, and attract consumers with attitude. It is particularly important that the marketplace itself has the ability to continuously output differentiated and high-quality content.
For example, she gave Yinyan, a lifestyle brand in Hangzhou founded in 2015, which held a second-hand retro market event with the theme of "picking up things" in 2018, opening the way to a retro market. Through resource integration and innovation, and the delivery of unique aesthetic tastes and textured lifestyles, Yinyan has attracted a large number of audiences and consumers, and has now become the "top IP of the retro market" and has stepped out of its own differentiated competition route.
IP" is also the direction that **Lu is digging. As the main business leader of Lianhua Commercial Group's Dashi and Xiaobazaar brand, she has been busy recruiting stall owners for the second phase of Dabazaar and Xiaobazaar during this time. She used a more concrete word to summarize the "IP" she wants to create - the manager (stall owner) economy, which is centered on the owner (stall owner) and conducts business operations around their values, life philosophy, aesthetic orientation, etc.
The happiness of many people today is not limited to material pleasure, but also spiritual pleasure. People's desire for a close business atmosphere and social needs between people are stronger, and they are more in pursuit of the realization of self-worth and the satisfaction and sense of achievement brought by consumption, and the pursuit of circle culture and group resonance. * Lu said that in terms of the base of goods, Lianhua does not lack good goods, but lacks distinctive managers (stall owners), which is the so-called "interesting things".
In addition, Huang Liuying believes that a professional operation team can strengthen the dialogue between the marketplace and the target audience, and optimize the brand equity of the marketplace. Through innovative operation and management, a unique marketing method is extended on the basis of the regular market, and the "market that never ends" is made. For example, it will cooperate with commercial real estate and tourist attractions to create market flash mobs and incubate themed bazaar sub-brands and sub-activities; Plan relevant community activities in combination with the theme of the market, and subsequently incubate creative peripherals or related formats to expand the commercial value of the market in multiple dimensions.
Taking advantage of today's popularity, the cultural tourism market can accumulate private domain traffic with its high-quality content, and convert the market purchase participants into creators and exporters of subsequent cultural and tourism content. Huang Liuying said that only by injecting more playability and interest into the market activities can the creative market become a sustainable cultural tourism industry.
During the visit, we saw that among the stall owners were middle-aged people who set off after experiencing setbacks, entrepreneurial young people who returned from studying abroad, and "Buddhist" stall owners who were addicted to chatting......The objects in the market and the stories of the stall owners seem to be the embodiment of "distance" and "poetry". The test of how to really make the flow of "Poetry and Distance" in the market become a retention has just begun.
*Please indicate the source".