China News Service, Changchun, March 22: The threshold for young people to practice self-service stores is not high and persistence is not easy.
Author Guo Jia Lu Shengnan Zhang Mohan
The self-service women's clothing store in Tianyuan, a "post-90s" girl's business, recovered its cost in less than half a year. Since resigning to start a business, in addition to taking care of the store's clothes and contacting the purchase of goods, she has more time to walk, read, watch TV series, and even just relax.
Her store is located in Jingyue University Town, Changchun, Jilin. The prices of the products are close to the people, and the single item in the store basically does not exceed 100 yuan (RMB, the same below). There are no service staff in the store. Customers can do the entire process themselves from entering the store to scanning the QR code to check out. It is very popular among college students.
Tianyuan attributes her current good situation to "the power of the wind." Before starting her own business, she worked as a financial officer in a company for 6 years. She later resigned due to the monotonous work and tried to start a business in 2023. Since there are basically no labor costs in small shops, the biggest expenditure currently is tens of thousands of yuan in rent per year.
At present, more and more young people like to label themselves "social-phobic" and pursue a state of being free from restraint, interference, and ingratiation. Tianyuan believes that satisfying "socially fearful" girls with an easy shopping experience is the key to supporting the long-term operation of this store. Due to the generally high quality of customers, clothing damage and theft rarely occur.
On November 22, 2023, a girl was shopping for clothes in a self-service clothing store in Changchun. (File photo) Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Yao
Tianyuan’s entrepreneurial experience is not unique in Changchun. Reporters recently visited and found that young people with active minds are willing to open self-service shops. Self-service gyms, self-service KTVs, self-service chess and card rooms, self-service billiards halls, etc. are constantly popping up in urban areas, attracting a large number of young people to patronize.
Sun Dong, who is also a "post-90s generation", has been engaged in the fitness industry for 13 years and has opened a traditional gym. In 2019, he opened a 24-hour self-service gym with friends. Over the past four years, many traditional gyms have closed, but Sun Dong’s store has been profitable year after year.
When Sun Dong visited Australia in 2015, he found that gyms can do without salespeople. At that time, China's fitness industry was still focused on sales, and customers were more receptive to this model. A few years later, he felt that young people were increasingly disinclined to accept this model. "Everything has its own characteristics, and through learning, young people are becoming more and more aware of what aspects they need to improve on."
"We are the first one in Changchun. We have been very popular since we first opened. At least six to seven hundred members come to exercise every month." Sun Dong said that there are now more than 120 self-service gyms in Changchun, and the competition is very fierce, but his store every We can still maintain two to three hundred members visiting every month. The members are mainly young white-collar workers, and the pace of life is relatively fast. There is no need to book a coach for self-service fitness, and you can come and go as you please.
On July 21, 2021, a 24-hour self-service pet washing shop in Chengdu attracted pet lovers to experience it. (File photo) Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Lang
The development of the "self-service economy" benefits from the deep integration of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, mobile payment and other technologies with the traditional service economy. At present, this new consumption scenario is increasingly used in leisure and entertainment, catering, hotels, medical education and other fields.
Searching for "self-service economy" on Internet platforms such as Xiaohongshu, it is not difficult to find content such as store opening strategies, franchise invitations, and smart device promotions. The consumption characteristics of "Generation Z" are more dependent on the Internet, which is also an important reason why self-service stores have the support of customer groups.
The threshold for starting a self-service store may seem low, but it is not easy to operate it for a long time. Li Jiyang is planning to transfer the self-service billiards room he has opened for more than a year in the near future. Talking about this business venture, Li Jiyang told reporters that he took the "low-price route" when he opened the store. Although the charges were cheap, the billiard tables and other equipment purchased at low prices gave customers a poor experience.
Li Jiyang admitted frankly that the investment in equipment, facilities, environment and daily promotion activities continued to increase, and it was difficult to continue operating since the revenue could not be covered.
On July 22, 2022, at the exhibition site of the 4th Western Conference, self-service smart medical equipment attracted guests to experience. (File photo) Photo by China News Service reporter Chen Chao
Jia Xiahong, a lecturer at the School of Economics at Changchun University, said that whether such self-service stores can continue to operate depends on the type of project, customer group characteristics and actual experience. Whether it is a rigid demand project or an occasional demand project, it is essential to save costs and increase efficiency. , so it is necessary to do a careful accounting of self-service and labor costs.
"It is also a good choice to run some self-service store projects with smaller investments and lower risks as a side business." Jia Xiahong believes that young people have relatively little social experience and should be very cautious when choosing entrepreneurial projects. At the same time, it is also a good choice. Don't blindly expand investment for short-term gains, but proceed steadily and steadily.
Jia Xiahong also said that relevant departments can issue targeted low-interest loans or introduce incentive policies to support young people to start their own businesses, which is also beneficial to promoting employment and prospering the consumer market. (over)