Nearly 70% of the interviewed college students have tried new ways to save money online——
"Internet Generation" Opens New Thrift Mode
In February last year, Zhu Anan, who was about to graduate from an undergraduate degree, embarked on a journey to Beijing for an internship from his hometown of Gansu with only a few clothes and toiletries.
I spent one night in a hotel and moved into a rented house the next day.
Most of the daily necessities in the room need to be purchased by yourself.
Under the recommendation of her intern colleagues, she bought quilts, pillows, floor mats, mirrors, power strips, electric kettles, etc. in one breath through a single order. The first time I tasted the sweetness of the single.
Group buying, redeeming points, receiving coupons, stocking up on shopping festivals, buying and selling second-hand goods... For Chen Yuxuan, who is studying in a college in Henan, these various online shopping modes are all "for my use" and achieve economical efficiency. Money purpose trick.
It's not difficult to get discounts on online shopping. One of Chen Yuxuan's roommates is a "wool" expert. When he encounters cost-effective daily necessities discounts and group groups, he will always call his roommates to participate. "I usually buy laundry detergent, stock up on paper towels, etc. consumables in a way that is really 'wallet friendly'".
Different from the traditional scene of offline price haggling and shopping and stockpiling during the discount season in supermarkets, the rise of new consumption patterns in the online environment has given birth to the "new frugal model" of the Internet.
China Youth Daily and China Youth School Media launched a questionnaire survey on relevant issues among college students across the country, and collected 1,873 valid questionnaires from 123 college students.
The survey results show that 68.55% of the respondents have looked for various ways to save money on the Internet platform, 20.18% of the respondents have not tried it because they have no channels, and 11.27% of the respondents feel that there is no need to try.
Often "pulling" Changxin, the new online consumption model has spawned new ways to save money
A face cream that usually sells for 40 to 50 yuan per bottle is superimposed through various discounts on the "March 8th" Women's Day, and the total cost of 6 bottles is only 80 yuan.
"A friend came to me to make an order, and I bought it when it felt good."
Yao Ran, a student at Wuhan University, was impressed by the 150-yuan discount.
As an online shopping enthusiast, she has a good idea of how to get what she needs at an affordable price.
Make orders on Pinduoduo, receive coupons in the Douyin live broadcast room, save the items you need to buy until the discount season, compare the prices of different e-commerce platforms... There are many ways to save money.
The monthly living expenses of 1,500 yuan should not only make himself happy, but also not exceed the limit. Liu Shenggan, who is studying in Shandong, has honed the "art of balance" in careful planning.
Like daily necessities of paper towels, books, body wash, and laundry detergent, he chooses to buy them on the group-buying platform. Take a big bottle of laundry detergent."
The rise and vigorous development of online shopping is providing more and more consumption methods. College students who are Internet aborigines, walking on the cusp of online consumption, choose to "scratch wool" online, which has been integrated into the daily consumption of some interviewed college students Habit.
A survey by the China Youth School Media found that the most popular way to save money by online shopping among the interviewed college students is to use the e-commerce platform to make orders and group purchases (59.58%). 58.36%).
In addition, save the goods you need until shopping festivals and discount seasons to buy them (37.85%), receive coupons through e-commerce shopping platforms, live broadcasts, etc. (37.27%), exchange points for coupons or cash (34.49%), and buy second-hand products Shopping on platforms (21.62%) and selling idle items through second-hand platforms (17.03%) are also the choices of the interviewed college students.
Unlike the previous generation of offline bargaining and shopping in shopping malls and supermarkets during the discount season, Chen Yuxuan is very interested in online "smashing wool", but he is not too "cold" by the discount activities in offline stores.
"One is because of the news of discounts in offline stores, it depends on people to send flyers, and it may not be able to catch up. Moreover, it takes a certain amount of time to go offline, and the information is not very symmetrical. If I spend time going to offline stores, but I found that the discount did not meet my expectations, and the experience was not very good." But online, you can pay attention to the changes in commodity prices at any time, and you can browse more products in the same time, so you can save money without spending too much time and cost. Opportunities for money, "convenience still comes first."
One of Zhang Yuanyuan’s money-saving tips is to “shop around”. For example, when purchasing high-priced products such as electronic products, she will compare horizontally at the brand stores of various platforms to compare the preferential subsidies, especially those with official subsidies from the platform.
Last year, she was going to buy a new mobile phone. After several comparisons, she finally bought a mobile phone with an original price of 6,799 yuan for only 5,899 yuan among the tens of billions of subsidized products from a single platform.
According to the survey by the China Youth University Media, the most popular consumption areas of the college students who are “skinning wool” online are clothing and apparel (63.47%), snacks and beverages (62.19%), daily necessities (44.72%), cosmetics and skin care (37.60%). %), school supplies (34.33%), transportation (24.05%), film and entertainment (23.19%), electronic products (21.10%), dolls (15.27%) and other fields will also be "never tired".
"Open source" is good, low-carbon and money-saving double harvest
According to the survey by the China Youth School Media, 79.34% of the respondents believed that the "new frugal model" of the Internet was very practical and indeed played a role in saving; 38.76% thought it was very fresh and provided new consumption choices; 34.97% thought it was very interesting, Not only saving but also integrating social attributes; 8.38% of the respondents believe that it is unnecessary to increase the complexity of shopping.
The new transaction mode brought by the network platform provides a new saving idea for college students who were originally pure consumers.
In addition to "saving expenditure", Chen Yuxuan has also tried ways to save money that are both environmentally friendly and "open source".
He once hung a 2018 tablet on the second-hand trading platform Zhuanzhuan and Xianyu.
"Electronic products are often used for 3 to 5 years now. After being idle, they will 'eat ashes' in the corner. They are not willing to throw them away, and they are not very good at using them. Selling them as second-hand products is low-carbon and environmentally friendly. It can also take care of other people’s economic situation. And I have used it for a long time, and I have feelings for it. It is also a kind of psychological comfort for me to find a new owner.”
Zhang Qi from Southwest University of Political Science and Law calls herself an "old player on second-hand platforms". She expressed her willingness to buy second-hand products that others have used when the real objects are 90% new, do not affect normal use, and the price is right.
"I especially like shopping for second-hand goods, and I will have the joy of digging for treasures." The most recent experience of "digging treasures" was to buy a wool coat with an original price of more than 600 yuan for 120 yuan.
The seller showed the purchase record, and Zhang Qi was very satisfied after receiving the real thing, so this coat is still her "favorite" until now.
In addition to shopping on second-hand platforms, Zhang Qi occasionally trades as a seller. She has sold her second-hand books in the school's idle item trading group. This is her way of achieving "open source".
Zhou Li now insists on selling the books he does not need on different platforms.
She downloaded an app that specializes in trading second-hand books. After selling the books, she can not only withdraw cash, but also get the platform's exclusive transaction currency, and then go to the app to buy other books.
After the postgraduate entrance examination, Zhu Anan began to share experience posts on social platforms, and also thought about selling his review materials and reference books.
"I originally wanted to try it out. I didn't expect that the post became popular as soon as it was published. During that time, people came to consult and buy almost every day." Facing the inquiries from her younger brothers and sisters, she also answered all questions, because Yuan Yuan was on the screen. The stranger on the other end gave pointers.
In less than a month, Zhu Anan sold more than 20 notebooks and earned a lot of income.
At the beginning of this year, Zhu Anan took out part of it to buy eye cream and air fryer for her mother, "I hope my family can see that I have grown up."
Chen Yuxuan also bought second-hand goods online.
"After all, when electronic products are just released, the price will be relatively expensive. When the trend has passed or the next generation of products is released, and then buying second-hand products, you can get a value-for-money experience." After college, Chen Yuxuan began to take care of living expenses by himself. There was always a thought in my mind.
He made a guide on the Internet, studied the mobile phone evaluation uploaded by some video bloggers, learned how to read the device parameters, selected the appropriate mobile phone style, and studied several second-hand trading platforms to understand whether the seller's delivery process is compliant or not. , Is there any quality inspection guarantee, and finally bought a mobile phone that satisfied him with both the model and quality.
This mobile phone, which has gone through a complicated research and purchase process, is a birthday gift from Chen Yuxuan to his mother.
Although he has no ability to make money as a student, he still wants to surprise his mother with the savings in living expenses.
Upon receiving this birthday surprise, my mother's initial reaction was to blame him for spending money.
But after hearing his mother's words, "There's no need to buy it", "I have a mobile phone, I don't need a new one", and "You have to save money from living expenses to buy a mobile phone", he soon learned from some relatives that his mother had put " My son bought me a cell phone." The story spread.
"Mom is still very happy. Now she has used this phone for more than two years."
Money "spends on the edge", "Internet generation" fancy inherits the tradition of thrift
According to the survey by the China Youth School Media, 57.98% of the respondents agreed with the consumption concept of "saving where you can save, but not saving where you need to spend money", and 18.37% believed that "we should save as much as possible in various expenses in life." ”, 15.91% of the respondents believe that “not only must be frugal, but also learn to open source”, only 6.51% of the respondents believe that there is no need to be too frugal when living expenses are sufficient.
Spend money on the edge of the knife - Yao Ran describes his consumption philosophy.
This is also the reason why she is willing to accept some online promotion models.
In her opinion, there is no need to buy cheap things to save money, but they don't like things. College students save money to "spend better".
"Some commodities may have unrealistically high prices or fluctuating prices." Yao Ran found that the prices of some clothing would fluctuate with different sales times, with different degrees of premium.
Zhang Qi concluded that saving money on the one hand is to save money and spend it where it is worthwhile, on the other hand, it is unwilling to pay for some commodities at random prices and excessive premiums.
If the daily single online purchase exceeds 100 yuan, he will think about whether there is any "replacement".
In every balanced comparison of income and expenses, he is able to make a deposit every month.
Every season, Liu Shenggan will use the money to buy new clothes.
In Chen Yuxuan's consumption concept, being diligent and thrifty and living within one's means is a fine tradition passed down from the elders.
"Although there is no need to 'frugal food' in terms of food and clothing costs, I will not buy some products that involve piracy and quality problems. But where I can get discounts, I will still save and save the money. Spend it where it's worth more."
According to the survey by the China Youth School Media, 58.89% of the respondents who chose the "new frugal model" of the Internet were because of the limited living expenses at their disposal, 56.01% wanted to spend the money saved in more valuable places, and 39.19% thought it was low. Why not do it in the form of carbon and money saving, 36.73% believe that diligence and thrift are their consistent virtues, and 27.87% of the respondents first learned about preferential methods through some online channels and wanted to try it.
Respondents will use the money they save to buy other things they like and need (69.47%), or save it (60.69%), and some respondents will use the money for travel, entertainment, and love funds.
The survey shows that respondents believe that when adopting the "new frugal model" of the Internet, they need to choose a formal platform to avoid being scammed due to the irregularity of the platform (84.84%); consume rationally and avoid buying unnecessary items cheaply (66.20%); Do not blindly look for open source channels on the Internet to avoid being exploited by scammers (60.06%); avoid wasting too much time in complex discount models (38.12%).
Zhu An'an also admitted that he often "couldn't stop the car" in front of shopping discounts and bought a lot of things that he didn't use.
"3 yuan and 9 hairpins, 5 yuan and 53 headbands, and all kinds of cheap and beautiful earrings are really hard not to be impulsive." She also realized that considering demand and rational consumption are still her own. A compulsory course to avoid the "good things at a low price" purchased on a whim may become the "ashes" that will be left unused or wasted.
Fan Jiajia of Wuhan University once bought fake goods on a second-hand platform because of "cheap prices". In order to avoid losses, she applied for a refund from the seller, complained to the platform, and finally got the money back.
"But the whole process is very troublesome." Fan Jiajia reflected on his own experience, "In pursuit of saving money, you also need to keep your eyes open, and you can't save blindly."
(At the request of the interviewee, Zhu An'an, Yao Ran, Zhang Yuanyuan, Zhang Qi, Zhou Li, and Fan Jiajia are pseudonyms in the text)
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily intern reporter Bi Ruoxu Wang Junli intern Peng Xin Source: China Youth Daily