Watching China in the First Year·Tide in Jingchu丨The Rise of “Heart-to-Cost Ratio”: Emotional Consumption Becomes the New Protagonist of National Day Consumption

During the National Day holiday, many citizens gave up traveling long distances and chose to stay in the city to visit markets, play with cute pets, experience stress-relieving handicrafts, and get together with friends. Consumption no longer purely pursues material goods, but instead spends money to buy relaxation, healing and happiness. Emotional consumption is becoming the new protagonist of this year’s National Day consumer market.

"Cost-price ratio" consumption has become a new choice for citizens

On October 1, in the atrium on the first floor of Building I of Wuhan K11 Art Shopping Center, a "Rua Squeeze and Stress Relief Conference" was held with great excitement. There are more than 60 stalls filled with soft toast, simulated cakes, and cartoon animal-shaped pinch toys. Young people shuttled among them, picked up one at random, squeezed and kneaded hard, and the soft and rebounding touch made many people cry out for relief.

"Working is stressful, and I don't want to queue up for tourist attractions during the holidays, so I just want to come here and squeeze it to release the accumulated fatigue." Ms. Zhou, a citizen, was trying out various silicone squeezes repeatedly in front of the stall. When she pressed hard with her fingertips, the toy was dented and then slowly restored. She told the Jimu News reporter that she had been paying attention to the pinch circle for a long time. Compared with buying clothing and accessories, she was more interested in small objects that could be directly touched and vented emotions.

Also focusing on emotional experience is Wuhan Binjiang Sky Street. On the evening of October 1, the Yangtze River Art Festival fireworks bloomed brilliantly on the river, and many river-view restaurants on the upper floors of the shopping mall were packed. Citizens and tourists enjoy delicious food while watching the fireworks on the river from the windows. "What I want to eat is secondary. What I want most is the atmosphere of watching fireworks by the river." Ms. Chen, a citizen, and her friends made reservations for river view seats early. In her view, what matters in holiday consumption is the pleasant experience of getting together.

During the long holiday, the plush pet party held at Binjiang Tianjie Wilderness Park has become an emotional habitat for pet owners. Many owners took their furry children to participate in tug-of-war, high jump, and concentration challenges. Their cute and naive attitudes made people laugh.

The cultural and creative doll "Garlic Bird", which sounds like the word "forget it" in Wuhan dialect, is a vivid example of localized expression of emotional consumption. Many tourists will buy a garlic bird as a souvenir after visiting the scenic spots. What they buy is not only a stuffed toy, but also a relaxing and open-minded emotional comfort.

New industry test questions behind the emotional consumption craze

Looking across the country, the emotional consumption boom is happening simultaneously in many cities. Beijing's West Xinglong Street holds long alley gatherings and Xiaohe Music Corner, and the old city hutongs are transformed into immersive slow life experience places; Zhejiang Hengdian opens a short play experience set, ordinary tourists can personally participate in short plays, achieving "drama-style tourism"; Chengdu's eastern suburbs memory relies on IP theme activities, trendy entertainment, and interactive exhibitions to drive the surrounding catering and retail sales...

Data shows that the scale of my country’s emotional consumption market reaches 2.72 trillion yuan. Businesses all over the country are breaking out of the traditional framework of “emphasis on commodities and discounts” and transforming atmosphere, belonging, and spiritual comfort into consumption scenarios. Consumption has also shifted from focusing on "cost-effectiveness" to pursuing "price-performance ratio." The value of commodities has continued to extend from "useful" to "feeling". This not only reflects people's pursuit of a better life, but also reflects the deep changes in economic and social development.

Behind the iteration of consumption concepts is the people's deeper pursuit of a better life in an era of material abundance. Young people reject "what others think is good" and insist on "what I think is worth it". They save when they should and spend when they should, and proactively define their own consumption choices.

However, observers also remind that we need to remain rational even during the craze. Emotional consumption does not mean emotional consumption, and we must not fall into the trap of blindly following the trend and impulsively hoarding goods. For the industry, emotional consumption is not simply about creating Internet celebrity gimmicks. Real and long-lasting products need to be rooted in local culture, understand the real spiritual demands of ordinary people, and integrate urban fireworks and humanistic warmth into products and scenes. Only by maintaining quality and positive value in supply can short-term holiday traffic be transformed into sustained release of consumption vitality.