【Bright Times Review】
Author: Zhao Jianing
In the blink of an eye, the last solar term of spring has passed, urging people to quickly grab the tail of spring and enjoy the good time of late spring. This spring, as the temperature warms up, the "spring economy" continues to heat up. From high-value spring limited goods, to mouth-watering seasonal menus, to the flowers viewing check-in places on social platforms, "seasonal limited" has become the traffic password of many merchants and enterprises.
The operation of the consumer market has a significant seasonal pattern. However, in recent years, more and more merchants and enterprises have begun to take the initiative to look at the seasonal economy, aiming at the deep-seated demand behind the keyword "season", developing exclusive products with seasonal characteristics, and continuing to innovate in seasonal consumption scenarios. These innovative attempts that overwhelm consumers have gradually converged into a new trend leading mass consumption, forming a beautiful "landscape" that echoes the seasonal landscape. If you walk into a convenience store or beverage store on the street at this time, consumers will definitely be able to feel the romantic atmosphere of spring, and notice a large number of spring elements represented by pink colors on the shelves and menus.
In line with people's quality, personalized and diversified consumption needs, traditional seasonal consumption has shown a rapid quality and expansion trend driven by the seasonal economy. Taking eating spring vegetables as an example, e-commerce platform data shows that since the beginning of spring this year, the search popularity of keywords related to spring dishes has increased by nearly 80%, and diners' enthusiasm for "biting spring" is particularly high. Spring vegetables are delicious but most of them are difficult to preserve and transport, resulting in the consumption of spring vegetables often limited to one time and one place. With the continuous improvement of logistics infrastructure such as cold chain and distribution, and the gradual improvement of agricultural product circulation system with the intervention of the digital economy, this situation is quietly changing. This spring, many consumers found that there were "new faces" of spring vegetables that they had not seen before on the market, and the variety of online and offline spring vegetables sales increased significantly, and some fresh food retailers also took the opportunity to launch spring vegetable pre-made dishes and semi-finished products to help consumers directly solve the problem of "how to eat niche spring vegetables". The expansion of the upward channel of agricultural products and the extension and upgrading of the industrial chain have enabled special spring dishes from all over the country to break through geographical restrictions and put on the tables of more people.
Today, when people pay more and more attention to the consumption experience, the characteristics of the seasonal economy "with its own scene" are an important reason for its popularity. The ancients said that "the scenery of the four seasons is different, and the joy is also endless." Relying on the inexhaustible source of inspiration of the four seasons to create diversified consumption scenarios, the seasonal economy is not only easy to create an immersive consumption experience with a sense of atmosphere, but also can bring consumers a steady stream of freshness. In the first quarter of this year, the demand for spring travel led the cultural tourism market to accelerate the recovery, and the booking volume of flower-viewing products on major travel platforms increased rapidly, and the flower-viewing economy became a major highlight. In the boom of flower appreciation, "flower appreciation + camping", "flower appreciation + market", "flower appreciation + sports" and "flower appreciation + night tour" and other integrated business formats have been renovated, creating new opportunities for the development of scene-based consumption for various industries such as catering and outdoor.
In addition to providing a more immersive and fresh consumer experience, the popularity of the seasonal economy is not unrelated to the return of traditional culture. Based on the cultural background of agricultural civilization, Chinese has maintained a unique sensitivity to natural changes and seasonal changes since ancient times. The seasonal philosophy of life advocated by traditional culture just echoes the current people's emphasis on ritual and yearning for the countryside. Under the blessing of this cultural emotion, consumption behavior with distinct time attributes has become a way for people to adjust modern life and express natural complexes.
At the moment, the seasonal economy is bustling, but it is also important to recognize that seasonal products in certain sectors are at risk of homogenization. For example, the proliferation of cherry blossoms, strawberries, white peaches and other elements in the spring consumer market inevitably makes consumers fatigued. In addition, seasonal limited products also have quality problems such as poor taste and inconsistent physical and publicity, which consume consumers' valuable trust and curiosity. It is worth pointing out that the seasonal economy is not just about scarcity and the marketing of outer packaging, but also contains considerable cultural and spiritual values. Focus on the product itself, improve the quality of products and services by strengthening R&D capabilities, reshaping supply chain management, innovative marketing ideas and other underlying means, so that the "spring breeze" of the seasonal economy can blow longer and farther.
"There are flowers in spring, there are moons in autumn, cool breezes in summer, and snow in winter." The four seasons in the world are good seasons, making the seasonal economy "evergreen" and giving "seasonal limited" a richer value connotation, which will surely help the consumer market release more vigorous vitality and better meet people's expectations for a better life.
Guang Ming Daily(Version 2023, 04-27-02)