Your loneliness is becoming someone else's business

 　　The lonely economy, which can also be called "one person's economy", is a kind of consumption behavior influenced by emotions, derived from personal emotional sustenance and life convenience needs, and forms an industrial chain. According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of single adults in China exceeds 200 million, of which more than 77 million live alone. Even if half of single adults are taken as the market base, the market size will exceed 300 billion yuan if the monthly per capita consumption is 3,000 yuan.

　　Unlike the older generation's attitude towards loneliness, today's young people especially enjoy loneliness. In their view, loneliness is not shameful, on the contrary, they have a "lonely" mentality - rather than compromise in the crowd, it is better to choose to be alone, and this is by no means lonely.

Your loneliness, big data knows

　　Nothing understands a person's loneliness better than big data.

　　With a "green code" in your mobile phone, you can check any place you have been. Under the monitoring of big data, a person's Weibo account, WeChat ID, various consumption data, where he appears every day, facial features, gait characteristics, and even idiomatic sentence patterns and common words when writing articles, etc., are all like Like particles under a microscope, they can be clearly seen and identified. If you combine the mobile phone models used by each person and analyze their consumption records, you can even grasp the consumption habits of different income groups.

　　Surveys show that when people are alone, they tend to buy more expensive spiritual products or services. If a person has to discuss with his spouse or parents when buying things, his buying behavior cannot truly reflect his consumption tendency and brand preference, and all kinds of big consumption data about him will be distorted. Only when he is alone, really being himself and buying what he wants, does his purchase represent himself.

　　The Maimai Data Research Institute found that 57.69% of the lonely people said that they would consume in order to resolve loneliness; 26.63% were not sure whether they would consume, depending on the specific situation. Some people spend their money on playing games, some are keen on shopping, some turn loneliness into appetite, or give rewards to anchors—because of the feeling of companionship.

　　Wu Xiaojing, the co-founder of Maimai, said: "With modest wages, mobile phones worth thousands of dollars, and a network that is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, people hope to have various ways to relieve loneliness. One of the most effective methods is One is to buy, buy, buy.”

　　In the context of consumption upgrades, it seems that one’s activities have become less difficult. If you don’t want to cook, you can use your mobile phone to order food; if you don’t have help when you move, you can find a moving company; the variety of products on the e-commerce platform greatly reduces the chance of shopping alone; even when you go to the supermarket, you can also choose online shopping Express service with one-hour delivery.

　　All kinds of services that promote the convenience of life all express that a person can live comfortably.

　　The lonely economy has an obvious consumption feature, that is, self-pleasing consumption. It is different from conspicuous consumption to please others, and pays more attention to one's own needs, manifested as "experiential consumption" and "paying for one's own hobbies". In addition, the lonely economy also has the characteristics of private consumption, and loneliness and youth are important driving forces for private consumption.

　　Xu Leilei calls herself an "old literary and artistic young woman" and "mother-fetal solo". Her daily routine is to stay at home alone on weekends and watch paid videos, and to eat three meals a day through takeaway; she also buys blind box tickets, and the easiest way to travel is by herself. Every "6.18" or "Double Eleven", she is actively "shopping", and there is a mountain of snacks at home.

　　Xu Leilei said: "I feel very comfortable alone. The convenience brought by the Internet can fully meet all the needs of a person's life. At present, I don't want to save money, I just want to have fun in time. In fact, there are many people around me. The same goes for colleagues and friends, who 'disappeared' on weekends in tacit agreement."

The Loneliness Economy Begins

　　Some people say that one-person restaurants, one-person KTV, and even takeaway and mobile games are all new industries born and popular because of loneliness. The various needs of a person's life contain huge business opportunities. At the same time, lonely consumers also react on social networks, online shopping, games, takeaways, etc., making the business of related companies more prosperous.

　　Li Meng, the founder of IMS New Media Business Group, called this economic model "the LOHAS model for one person". In his view, the economy for one person is a new business layout.

　　According to data from the Ali Research Institute, among the post-95s and post-00s, 54% watch movies alone, and 33% order takeaway alone. Based on these data, Ali's e-commerce system began to promote one-person food, one-person rental, one-person travel, one-person hot pot, mini appliances, self-service singing bars, etc.

　　Take mini KTV as an example. In the past two years, small glass rooms have appeared at the entrance of many supermarkets and shopping malls, with two high chairs, two microphones, a screen and a blinding disco ball. This is the standard of mini KTV. match. Except for some young lovers, I often see someone singing intoxicatedly alone in the glass room.

　　The shopping mall downstairs of Li Nan's house had a batch of mini KTVs stationed there last year, and he would sing a couple of songs when he was bored. Li Nan said: "Going to traditional KTV not only invites people, but also may have to grab mics. It is better to sing by yourself. Mini KTV is very good. You can practice songs by yourself, but it is a bit expensive."

　　Survey data shows that in 2018, China's offline mini KTV The market size of KTV has reached 6.86 billion yuan, and it is estimated that the market size will reach about 31 billion yuan in 2022. These facilities, similar to telephone booths, are often located in the corners of shopping malls, and can be covered by curtains. The sound insulation effect is excellent, which fully meets the lonely needs of single people, and avoids the embarrassment of social terror being forced to sing K in public.

　　In order to avoid the embarrassment of eating alone, one-person restaurants came into being. The exquisite and beautiful cubicles create a semi-enclosed independent space in the noisy environment of restaurants, creating a decent dining environment for those who eat alone. The cubicle is equipped with charging facilities and Wi-Fi, and is unlimited in time.

　　In Haidilao, if you are dining alone, the waiter will put an oversized teddy bear on the seat opposite you, giving you the feeling that someone is eating with you. While this approach doesn't really alleviate loneliness, it's still been well-received by many singles.

　　Japan's Ichiran ramen is the ultimate food for one person. Customers first place their orders at the self-service ordering machine at the entrance, and each person has a small booth. The clerk serves food from behind the curtain. If you want to add food, you can press the small bell on the table, and you will not be disturbed by others throughout the process. In China, meals specially prepared for one person, such as Xiabuxiabu, Zhengxian revolving sushi, Helu revolving sushi, and Liuding one-person cooking pot, are also highly sought after.

　　In 2018, the number of game users in China reached 626 million. Online games are an important way to relieve loneliness, among which single users contributed more than half of the sales. After e-sports got its name rectified by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in April 2019, game play has also risen rapidly and formed a relatively complete industrial chain.

　　Game escort is one of the many downstream service industries derived from the e-sports industry. Unlike the game power levelers who help people fight monsters and upgrade, and become "kings", the most important function of the escort is to "accompany". Playing games alone is very boring, so I want to find someone to play with, upgrade myself, and chat with myself, pretending that everyone is a good brother or best friend who can talk about everything—even if it’s only for two hours.

　　"You only need to spend 30 yuan, and your heart will no longer be lonely within this hour." Some companion play platforms use game socialization as a selling point to satisfy some users who need to score better but are lonely in their hearts. On a certain game accompanying app, the price of an accompanying player is 30-80 yuan per hour, and some people calculate the price by a single game, and the expensive one can reach hundreds of yuan.

　　Bei Bei, a 25-year-old full-time playmate, is a girl with a sweet voice. Beibei said: "In the game companion circle, good voice is far more important than good looks." Beibei worked part-time as a game companion when he was in university. After graduation, he found that the salary of ordinary office workers could not support him, so he decided to work full-time as a companion. Because of the accumulation of many old customers in the early stage, Beibei's current monthly income is stable at 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.

　　Beibei said: "I usually play all night when I play, and I don't get up until about 6 pm the next day. Because my customers have to go to work or go to class during the day, only at night is the time to be alone, and they can hide in the room by themselves. Play games.” In her spare time, Beibei plays some new games, and her Steam account has more than 200 games. Beibei said: "Customers like to order from me because I play a variety of games. Some unpopular games are very lonely to play alone, and there is no one to chat. You can often find loyal 'repeat customers' in this kind of game."

Loneliness is an active choice

　　With declining birth rate, aging population, unmarriage and rising divorce rate, the proportion of the two-generation family model in my country is decreasing day by day. Under the interaction of various social phenomena, the lonely economy has been born.

　　Compared with the "passive loneliness" brought about by urban expansion, convenient services, and the rise of the Internet, today's loneliness economy seems to be more like an active choice for contemporary young people. With the rapid economic development and the accelerated pace of life, the loneliness economy may be an affirmation of the life attitude of actively enjoying personal interests and enjoying personal time.

　　People who are alone need the emotional value of "being concerned" most.

　　People's lives are being filled by smartphones, and loneliness is exacerbated by it.

　　Chen Min is a short video self-media creator. She often publishes some short stories of her own creation. She said: "I am a heavy consumer of Douyin, and I am often addicted to the information cocoon of Toutiao. I live alone for a long time, so I have a lot of space to think alone. By chance, I found that loneliness is a thing that can be done. Consumption. To a large extent, everyone who watches short videos is doing it alone. And I am consuming alone on Douyin, and at the same time creating lively.”

　　In Chen Min’s opinion , every video creator wants to be heard. They crave approval, attention, communication, and feedback. Once there is no feedback, maybe I don’t want to tweet anymore, so I continue to be a lonely consumer.

　　When a person lives alone, he would hope to seek recognition, find similarity and comfort in the virtual social network, but the truth is that there are fewer and fewer real friends, and it is so difficult to find someone to confide in. The feeling of "being noticed by others" and "being understood in seconds", intangible and delicate emotional marketing, is the development direction of intelligent business.

　　In the Internet world, where there is traffic, there is a market, and where there is a market, there is money to be made. The rise of the lonely economy is an irreversible trend. How physical businesses can capture the consumption habits of singles and provide comprehensive services in terms of basic necessities, food, housing, and transportation is a question worth discussing.

　　The current loneliness economy format is to provide users with services to solve their loneliness needs, making users' lives more convenient and warmer; but at the same time, increasingly convenient services reduce people's social needs and deepen their loneliness. This contradictory relationship may exist for a long time.

　　Li Meng said: "The positive loneliness economy is not to find loneliness, let it alone or even cater to loneliness, but to address the needs of lonely people and effectively relieve their loneliness by providing goods and services."