Consumer-savvy youth splash out when it counts

This is an extract of the Survey Report on the Social Mentality of Young Chinese Netizens (2022) conducted by Fudan Development Institute's Center for Communication and State Governance Research, the Global Communication All Media Research Institute of Fudan University, Bilibili Public Policy Research Institute and the Shanghai Information Security and Social Management Innovation Laboratory. The report surveyed a total of 5,492 young netizens across China in 2021 and 2022.

It seems that these days, young netizens' consumption patterns are somewhat contradictory: On the one hand, they budget carefully and try to save money by placing orders during shopping festivals, using coupons and haggling with sellers. They refuse to buy "stupid tax "products — products that are not worth the price — and they refuse to be trapped by consumerism. On the other hand, however, they are willing to splurge as long as it's for their hobbies and interests. So, what kind of consumer attitude lies behind this contradiction?

The coexistence of a strong willingness to both consume and save is the main feature of young consumer trends. According to statistics collected from Sina Weibo, the proportion of young internet users with a strong willingness to consume (7.4 percent) was much higher than that of a weak one (0.8 percent). Moreover, the proportion of young netizens expressing a strong willingness to save (1.8 percent) was also higher than that of a weak one (0.6 percent). These data showed the new consumer trend of today's youth: A willingness to find enjoyment through consumption, but in the meantime are also consciously controlling their spending, ensuring some savings for emergencies.

The desire to consume is strong and resilient among young netizens, with 89 percent of the survey respondents maintaining a strong spending propensity over the past two years. Young people emphasize spiritual experience when it comes to consumption, as shown by their positive attitude toward paying for hobbies and knowledge. Willingness to pay for hobbies has become a major characteristic of young netizens. In 2022, 9.5 percent of young netizens clearly expressed their willingness to splurge on hobbies, rising from 8 percent in 2021. It has clearly become a trend for young people to express their personalities and interests through what they buy.

Paying for knowledge has also been accepted by young internet users, with 1.4 percent of respondents expressing an inclination to pay for knowledge in 2022, with no respondents saying that they would refuse to pay for knowledge. With the increase of knowledge-related products, such as podcasts, e-magazines and online classes, paying for knowledge and information has become widely accepted among young people.

Another characteristic worth noting is that more youngsters have positive rather than negative views toward overconsumption. A total of 1.1 percent of young netizens show a favorable attitude toward it, while only 0.2 percent express a negative view. Credit products have become a major means of overspending for young people.

Despite their willingness to splurge on hobbies, young internet users are also keen on joining various e-commerce promotion activities and adopting self-restraining measures to control expenses. For example, during e-commerce shopping festivals, many young netizens look up tips on saving money, which they may even share on social media. This not only helps them reduce their expenses but also brings them joy.

In the meantime, a low-desire society and minimalist lifestyle are popular concepts among some young people, which are also self-restraining practices to control consumption. A network analysis of millions of relevant video comments on the video-sharing website Bilibili confirmed young netizens' strong propensity to consume and save money at the same time. Next to videos criticizing consumerism, resisting overconsumption and overborrowing, revealing brand marketing schemes, and calling on saving money, you can find that many young netizens choose to pay for online educational courses. Popular paid courses include science topics such as quantum mechanics, cosmology and brain science; humanities and history topics like interpreting poetry from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279), literary theory and Chinese history; social science topics such as psychology, law and modern design, as well as economics and business topics.