Young Chinese consumers shopping for health, emotion

Every night before going to bed, Wang Junran relaxes by listening to music, drinking a cup of herbal tea and using a massager to soothe her stiff neck.

The 29-year-old engineer, who lives in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, has been ending her day this way since earlier this year when tremendous pressure disrupted her circadian rhythm, making it difficult to fall asleep.

Wang was determined to change her evening routine, and she knew exactly when to stock up on the items she needed: during China's Singles' Day shopping event. This annual online shopping promotion offers significant discounts across various e-commerce platforms and ran from mid-October to mid-November this year.

"Herbal tea and music can soothe my mind and the massage device can relieve my stiff neck from tedious daily work. Now I can hardly live without them," said Wang while showing off her extensive tea collection.

Health and pressure relief products were among the top searches during the shopping spree. The growing market comes as more young Chinese consumers pursue healthy lifestyles to alleviate the stresses and strains of life and work.

Xu Mengtong, a 29-year-old office worker in the city of Huangshan, said she was impressed by young people's passion for health when visiting a local night fair featuring traditional Chinese medicine. "Unlike traditional markets, the fair offers free health checkups, even physiotherapy," said Xu.

Like many of her peers, Xu bought moxibustion products online to alleviate underlying conditions linked to a heavy workload and irregular lifestyle.

Healthcare products are also changing to cater to young customers as more young people join a customer base once dominated by middle-aged and elderly buyers.

"We have designed a cute mascot for our new herbal tea products that target stress relief and sleep improvement," said Huai Zishuai, owner of Anhui Cunzhen Yishou Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd, adding about half of the company's consumers during the annual shopping gala were under 32.

"Nowadays, youngsters in China are becoming more health conscious and want to strike a balance between life and work," said Xu Hua, a professor of sociology at Anhui University. "Engaging in wellness activities fosters relationships and fulfills the need for social interaction."

More young Chinese consumers have shown a tendency to shop for emotional value, which has driven a sales boom at many related online stores.

The flagship stores of miHoYo and Paper Games, which both sell game derivative products, and those of mystery box toymaker Pop Mart, and British plush toy brand Jellycat all reported more than 100 million yuan (about 13.9 million U.S. dollars) of Singles' Day sales, showed data from Tmall, Alibaba's online shopping platform.

"I love taking squishy toys to my office, and squeezing them can help me relieve work pressure," said Chen Qiuyue, a 24-year-old internet worker. "When I get back home, I hug my bears for comfort," said Chen, who has recently bought many such toys, including bears in different costumes and cartoon vegetables- and fruit-shaped squishy toys.

According to a research report on youth consumption trends this year, nearly 30 percent of respondents said they would buy goods that can provide emotional value. The goods included snacks, perfumes, flowers, pets, squishy toys, electronic products, mystery boxes, game derivative products or self-improvement courses.

The shift in consumption occurred as younger consumers gained stronger purchasing power and began to prioritize emotional connections and experiences. Many also sought emotional release from significant pressures related to work, family, and health, said Nan Yu, deputy researcher with the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Many new emotional consumption products cater to young people's curiosity and their desire for self-gratification, Nan added.

Emotional consumption provides broad growth space for cultural and creative industries while the new health consumption brings growth momentum to traditional health industries, said Jiang Han, a senior researcher with Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based think tank.

Companies should better understand the changing demands of consumers through big data analysis and market research and beef up new product innovation and development, Jiang added.