Text | One degree Pro
In 2024, how many young people will "work overtime and consume their lives while recuperating their feet"? For a long time, the label of young people is still "CBD during the day and going to Bundi at night", and foot massage is often regarded as the exclusive domain of middle-aged and elderly people. However, the jump and adrenaline rush of "staying up late + drinking" have made young people more and more unbearable.
This "crispy young man" pays more and more attention to the cost-effectiveness of leisure and entertainment, and also pays more and more attention to health preservation.
As a result, young people flocked to the foot massage parlor. "Life is already so difficult, you have to leave yourself a place where you can lie down completely and relax."
A set of data verifies the popularity of the foot massage industry. From December 2023 to January of the following year, orders for bathing centers on Meituan's platform soared by about 200%. By the end of 2023, the number of foot massage stores included in Meituan's platform is close to 500,000. A year ago, that number was 300,000.
In the eyes of young people who often talk about "relaxation", whether it is to relieve stress, play and rest, or gather with friends, foot massage is a good choice.
When "foot soaking replaces clubbing", foot massage parlors are becoming a haven for young people.
01 Decompression, rest, socializing, foot massage is on fire
On a Thursday after the rain, taking advantage of the lunch break, Xiaomeng, a post-00s generation, and his colleague Li Nian came to a foot massage shop near the company.
Even though it was noon on a weekday, there were not many people at this store, and customers came one after another, and even had to wait in line for a table.
Xiaomeng found that many of the people who came here were migrant workers who were about the same age as herself. While soaking their feet, you can also hear them making work voices.
For the popularity of foot massage, Xiaomeng is not surprised. After a busy work, spending dozens of dollars to soak your feet and massage massage, "there is nothing more relaxing than this".
Young people who are tired from work have become accustomed to flocking to foot massage parlors to relieve muscle fatigue and tension through foot soaking massages, and to gain total body relaxation.
Some companies even regard pedicure massage as a mandatory option for company benefits and team building.
The first company that Li Nian went to after graduating from 95 years ago, every two or three months of team building is a must, that is, all of them do massage, and each team building will contract an order from one shop for an afternoon. Another company where Li Nian works will invite masseurs to come to the door every once in a while and give employees a turn to massage.
Photo source/Xiaohongshu @ Milk tea is not sweetened
Not only that, but the role of foot massage in young people's travel is also becoming more and more important.
Some people take a break to relieve the fatigue of special forces-style tourism. Xiaomeng went on a graduation trip to Qingdao last year, and after a full day of special forces-style travel, he couldn't walk on his legs, so he and his friends found a foot massage shop on the street, resting and relaxing at the same time.
Some people also decide on a travel destination for a pedicure massage. Last winter, "Northeast Tourism" exploded, in addition to the ice and snow is very attractive, followed by bathing and massage, the bathing city in the Northeast is about to be contracted by the "Southern Little Potato".
Shower, bath, bath, massage one-stop, is not to miss the service, in addition to the basic dry rubbing, milk rubbing, vinegar rubbing, red wine rubbing, egg white rubbing is also quite attractive.
Li Nian's college classmates went to the United Kingdom after graduation, and returned to Chongqing on vacation last year, and the first place to check in was the foot massage shop, "I didn't expect that the foot massage has developed to this point, not only can you soak in the bath massage, but also have a variety of catering, fruit buffet, this shop even durian is available in unlimited quantities." ”
Young people who are looking for cost-effectiveness and comfort have turned foot massage parlors into a destination for social gatherings.
"The joy of life is to have fun with friends, in the past, I used to choose bar KTV, not to mention the high consumption, and the body couldn't stand it after a drink, but now everyone has begun to like health, and foot massage has almost become a must for leisure," shared a migrant worker.
Li Nian also often selects some distinctive foot massage shops to try them. At the beginning of this year, Li Nian found out that there was a health center in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and also raised alpacas, and provided free photos in Hanfu, so he immediately asked a friend to go on the weekend.
That day, Li Nian and his friends stayed from two or three o'clock in the afternoon to eight or nine o'clock in the evening before coming out, in addition to taking pictures of alpacas and Hanfu, they also ate a lot of fruit snacks buffet, sang K, played games, played billiards, combined, the price per capita of more than 100 can experience a lot of things, Li Nian and his friends feel very cost-effective.
Reflexology and massage parlors, which are popular among young people, have changed from a place of relaxation to a "third place" with social attributes.
02 From street shops to new Chinese styles, there are more and more ways to play foot massage
Once, when many people mentioned foot massage shops, they still had the impression of an old-fashioned environment, old-fashioned decoration, and inconspicuous small shops that often haunted unfinished buildings.
As everyone knows, the foot massage parlor has already quietly taken off. Taking Changsha as an example, according to incomplete statistics, it has the title of "foot washing capital", and Changsha will have 15,000 foot washing cities in 2022, exceeding the total number of the four municipalities directly under the central government of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing.
From the "king of cost performance" to the development of mid-to-high-end, foot massage has produced some kings in each market segment.
The workers who pursue cost-effectiveness have exploded the affordable brands such as Zheng Yuanyuan and Peng Shi's pedicure.
Xiaomeng chose Zheng Yuanyuan because of the cost performance, and Xiaomeng believes that as a chain brand, the service will be relatively standardized. In fact, another foot massage shop not far from Zheng Yuanyuan has a larger area but fewer customers, which is in stark contrast to Zheng Yuanyuan's endless streams.
Zheng Yuanyuan, which developed from Shaanxi in 2007, has now become a company with a revenue of more than 10 billion, after nearly 20 years of development, its official website shows that the company has more than 8,000 chain stores and more than 64,000 employees.
I heard before that Zheng Yuanyuan's technicians are uniformly trained. When Zheng Yuanyuan soaked his feet for massage, Xiaomeng found that the masters in the store all spoke with the same accent, and sure enough, several masters were from Ankang, Shaanxi, and they were trained together.
Zheng Yuanyuan is now known as the "Pedicure World", and his peers are still catching up, and some data show that Peng Shi Pedicure has more than 4,000 franchised stores, with an annual revenue of billions of yuan.
Migrant workers who want to socialize and massage at the same time have developed some foot therapy and health clubs that integrate foot massage and movie screenings, food and beverage, and leisure and entertainment.
Taking Golden Impression as an example, this company, which was founded in 2011, began to explore the "cinema-style" pedicure model earlier, and opened from Chongqing to Changsha, and was given the title of "Haidilao in the foot bath industry".
There are also Changsha's Tianzhidao and Yierkang, Chongqing's Fuqiao foot bath, as well as Huaxia Liangzi, Tangquan Liangzi and other old brands, which combine foot massage, massage, catering, movie viewing, leisure and entertainment, and the low-key and luxurious health club directly contracts the weekends of migrant workers.
However, with the popularity of foot massage among young people, some new foot massage shops that are closer to the style of young people are also quietly becoming popular.
The differences in the genres of massage techniques are not so easy to distinguish between these small shops that cater to young people, but the decoration styles of the small shops are easy to distinguish.
Some brands focus on new Chinese massage, with a full Zen decoration style, and then with tea art, it brings the simplicity and elegance to the extreme; Some brands aim at Japanese massage, and the decoration style is also simple and Japanese, fresh and elegant.
Photo source/Xiaohongshu
Some brands combine massage and massage with the camping style that has been popular in the past two years
The grid is combined to allow young people to enjoy in a more relaxed scene; There are also some brands that do Thai massage, which has a strong Southeast Asian style.
The popularity of these brands is also driving the growth of young people in the foot massage industry.
03 The 100 billion market is rising, but the market chaos still needs to be accelerated and regulated
Reflexology massage has long been a 100-billion-level market, and massage has long developed from a traditional treatment method to a comprehensive industry.
According to reports, China is the largest massage consumer market, with a market size of 443.24 billion yuan and 3.189 billion consumers in 2022 and 506.59 billion yuan in 2023, with 3.518 billion consumers.
China's massage consumer market is still growing, but at the same time, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the industry is mixed.
Reflexology and massage mainly sell services, which is difficult to standardize, and there are many problems in the industry. On the black cat complaint platform, there are 7628 complaints related to "massage", of which the most complained are strong promotion, inducement of recharge, refusal to refund, and some merchants will even force consumers to take out loans to apply for cards.
A consumer in Xi'an said that in June last year, he recharged 3,000 yuan in a massage parlor, and then every time he went to a massage, he would be tricked into adding more items, even if he said that he had no money, the master also asked the user to recharge through a credit loan, as long as he entered the shop, he couldn't get out without spending money, and he spent 25,000 yuan before and after.
Photo source/Black Cat complaint
Not only that, but the quality and professionalism of many technicians are still unconvincing. The black cat complaint platform has a lot of complaints about the door-to-door massage head brand Dongjiao Daojia, in addition to the most common technician techniques, there are also inducing bells, and even inducing informal services.
Young people need not only a simple massage, but also a safe and comfortable service. When external regulation and self-purification within the industry need to be improved, it is more dependent on consumers to keep their eyes open and avoid being misled by low prices and false propaganda.
However, there is no doubt that behind the popularity of foot massage is the quiet change of young people's attitude towards life. Here, young people temporarily let go of the "immediate reluctance", turn "overtime and staying up late" into "foot soaking and health", and live with a more relaxed attitude.
Some people question the boredom of these young people, and it seems that if they are stained with pedicure and massage, they will become old-fashioned and lose the "coolness and personality" of young people.
But rather than the glamour of the face, young people are more concerned with washing away their fatigue and achieving real physical and mental relaxation.
When young people find a foot massage shop they like, it is equivalent to finding a "spiritual gas station", when they feel tired, they walk into a massage shop, and when they come out, they can be resurrected and start again.
(At the request of the interviewee, Xiaomeng and Li Nian are pseudonyms in the article)