The "night economy" has gone beyond the limitations of traditional night markets and catering, and has extended to a wider range of fields such as tourism, culture, entertainment, and leisure
The thriving night-time economy will become an important support for residents to enrich their nighttime life, and in the long run, it will also become a plus point in evaluating a city's living environment
In the hot summer, compared with the high temperature during the day, consumers prefer to choose to release the consumption vitality of entertainment and leisure in the cool summer night. The rapid release of the potential of the "night economy" has added new momentum to consumption in mainland cities. According to the latest survey report on the consumption habits of urban residents released by the Ministry of Commerce, 60% of mainland citizens' consumption occurs at night, and the sales of large shopping malls from 18 to 22 o'clock account for more than 50% of the sales of the whole day.
With the continuous enrichment of the "night economy", the "night economy" driven by various characteristic industries such as "rejuvenating the night with food", "revitalizing the night with entertainment", "revitalizing the night with tourism" and "revitalizing the night with shopping" has gradually precipitated into the background color of the city's cultural development. The booming "night economy" has gradually become an effective way for the mainland to actively expand employment, stimulate consumption vitality, promote urban prosperity and stimulate economic growth.
The "Past and Present" of the Night-Time Economy
Ms. Zhao and her friends from Hebei Province took advantage of the summer vacation to visit Beijing and made a special trip to Hu Hotel to taste the special crayfish. "We are going to try the 'Crayfish Summer Meal for Two' group purchase package, and enjoy the food on the terrace with a view of Beijing's night view, we must come here every time we come to Beijing to play."
Such a hot summer consumption scene is very common in Beijing's major business districts this summer. With the launch of the "Beijing Consumption Season Night Beijing Activity", the event has linked more than 40 business districts, more than 200 brands, and nearly 10,000 stores to create a content system of "One Union and Five Nights". In the area of the Liangma River, where hipsters gather in Beijing, the "2024 Summer Water Party" in Bubble Mart City Park has become a good place for citizens to rest on summer nights. According to the relevant staff of the park, this "water party" introduced a large inflatable water park, allowing visitors to enjoy coolness and joy in the hot summer. At the same time, it also cleverly combines the theme of LABUBU Adventure Forest to create a summer resort full of primeval forest tribes. The park said that it will continue to explore more innovative ways to play and bring guests a richer and more diverse nighttime consumption experience.
Today's nighttime consumption has been expanded to a variety of consumption patterns, and the "night economy" is not only an economic phenomenon, but also a consumption trend that includes a variety of formats. Since the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Circulation and Promoting Commercial Consumption" issued in 2019 proposed to "activate night-time businesses and markets", cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou have actively introduced relevant policies and measures to optimize the night-time business environment, create characteristic night-time consumption scenes, and develop the night-time economy.
According to the data, "night economy" is a concept put forward by the United Kingdom economic community in the 70s of the 20th century, specifically referring to the modern urban consumption economy that occurs from 6 pm to 6 am the next day, with local citizens and foreign tourists as the main consumer body, and the tertiary industry, such as leisure, tourism, shopping, fitness, culture, catering, etc. as the main form. In China, the urban consumption economy, which takes place between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m., is often referred to as the "night economy."
In fact, the "night economy" is not an emerging modern economic phenomenon, as early as the economic model of the term "night market" in ancient China was the initial state of the "night economy" in the mainland. The late Tang Dynasty poet Du Xunhe described the grand scene of the Suzhou night market in the poem "Sending People to Wu": "When you go to Gusu to see, everyone sleeps on the river. There is little idle land in the ancient palace, and there are many small bridges in the water lanes. The night market sells water lotus root, and the spring boat carries Qiluo. Knowing the sleepless moon from afar, homesickness is in the fishing song. "The poem depicts the prosperity of the night market in the Tang Dynasty; For example, in big cities such as Chang'an and Luoyang, the scale of night markets has gradually expanded, and it has increasingly become an important place for urban residents to carry out their night activities. In addition to the basic commodity trading, the night market in the Tang Dynasty also featured a variety of entertainment activities, such as juggling and opera performances, which attracted many citizens and tourists to participate.
In modern society, after people are busy with work and life during the day, night time has become an important time for people to relax and relax, and the night economy has begun to carry more diversified consumer demand. In this regard, Song Cunyang, director of the Cultural and Tourism Integration Research Center of the Cultural Industry Research Institute of Chinese University and deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Cultural Industry Park Association, said that with the continuous expansion of the scale of night consumption, its consumption concept, content and form have undergone significant and rapid changes. The "night economy" has gone beyond the limitations of traditional night markets and catering, and has extended to a wider range of fields such as tourism, culture, entertainment, and leisure.
Food, travel, shopping and entertainment Diversified night-time economy
Meituan data shows that since June this year, consumers under the age of 30 have accounted for nearly half of the nighttime orders, and Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, and Chongqing have ranked among the top five in the country. Snacks and fast food, beverages, eight major cuisines, hot pot, and barbecue are the top five categories in terms of night catering consumption orders among citizens across the country.
Among them, night catering is an important part of the "night economy", and various forms of night catering consumption patterns have been launched in various places to meet the diversified needs of citizens and tourists. The 2024 Shanghai Nightlife Festival has been launched, extending from June to September, focusing on seven dimensions: night shopping, night food, night show, night entertainment, night tour, night movement, and night reading, and a number of summer night special activities will be launched. Guangzhou has built "Young City Yeah City" (Yangcheng Night Market), launched "Food +", "Tourism +", "Art +" and "Culture +" tricks to continue to build a night consumption brand.
Gong Kedi, an associate professor at the Business School of Beijing Technology and Business University, believes that the "night economy" carries the important task of stimulating the vitality of urban development and enhancing the competitiveness of the city. The development of the "night economy" can not only effectively extend the business hours of the commercial and cultural tourism industries and promote the growth of turnover, but also use lighting, virtual 3D, holograms and other technological means that are more suitable for the night environment to enhance the interaction between consumers and consumption scenes, and then enhance consumer stickiness.
The boom in the "night economy" has allowed people to spend more time. "The four major formats of catering, tourism, shopping, and leisure and entertainment have enriched people's consumption content, consumption scenes and consumption channels at night, stimulated people's willingness to consume, and thus helped the internal circulation of the mainland economy." Song Cunyang said.
As an important part of the "night economy", food has long been not limited to its objective fulfillment function, but has gradually become a unique cultural symbol, reflecting local life and humanistic atmosphere. The story of creating a city business card with food and driving the city's popularity is repeated, and the combination of city business card and food is also common. For example, Zibo barbecue, Beijing roast duck, Chongqing hot pot, Lanzhou beef noodles, Xi'an meat sandwich buns, etc.
Night tours are a new way of traveling, allowing people to explore the unknown, experience different lifestyles, and learn about different cultures, customs, and folklore. In recent years, with the development of short video platforms such as Douyin, many cities with rich tourism resources have also come to the fore. For example, the night view of Hongya Cave and the Datang City that never sleeps and other interesting and charming city night scenes, which "plant grass" in people's hearts and become a popular check-in place for tourists.
In addition, the construction of characteristic shopping districts and commercial blocks to promote the development of the "night economy" is a common measure of local governments to stimulate night consumption. Some cities have tried to explore new models of business district operation by introducing new business formats and creating themed scenes to improve consumer experience. It can be seen from the types of commercial shopping that Douyin operates at night in 2023, Chongqing users prefer to check in commercial streets and pedestrian streets, Hainan users prefer to check in duty-free shops, Guizhou users prefer to check in daily supermarkets, Guangdong users prefer to check in fresh fruit and vegetable stores at night, and Jiangsu users prefer books, audio-visual products.
The leisure and entertainment industry in the "night economy" can effectively help people relax, enjoy their body and mind, relieve stress and improve their sense of well-being. "The 'night economy' not only meets the basic needs of catering and shopping, but also upgrades to a high-level consumer experience, such as the current popular adult interest night school, which attracts a large number of young people to learn traditional culture, intangible cultural heritage skills and other courses in their leisure time at night, becoming a model of 'night economy' consumption upgrading." Song Cunyang said.
On July 12, 2024, at the night market on Qingyang Road, Hanshou County, Changde City, Hunan Province, vendors make food Photo by Chen Sihan
The city's new business card: from "night economy" to "night culture"
Robot drinks, folding fans, flashing lanterns...... According to the characteristics of Chang'an, Xi'an Datang Sleepless City continues to innovate a dazzling array of cultural and tourism products; Hebei Province focuses on consumption hotspots such as time-honored brands and specialty restaurants, and enriches consumption formats such as night shopping, night food, and night tours to stimulate the vitality of night consumption. All localities dig deep into local characteristics and cultural characteristics to create differentiated and personalized consumption scenarios to further promote the sustainable prosperity and development of the "night economy".
In this regard, Guan Lixin, a researcher at the Circulation and Consumption Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said that the night-time economy has become an important way to enrich the connotation of cities, attract foreign tourists, and enhance comprehensive competitiveness. At the same time, urban functions have gradually shifted from production to consumption, and the demand for services such as tourism, shopping, and entertainment has been accelerated.
With the continuous development and accumulation of the night economy, the impact of the night economy on the city is no longer limited to the night. Secondly, the social reputation accumulated in the process of nighttime economic development will gradually precipitate into a part of urban culture, from "night economy" to "night culture", which will become a unique business card of urban development. Finally, the thriving night-time economy will become an important support for residents to enrich their night-time life, and in the long run, it will also become a plus point in evaluating a city's living environment.
Gongkedi believes that a standardized and innovative night-time economy business environment requires not only the efforts of the managers of consumption places, but also the policy support of the government. The government should formulate corresponding policies to increase support for technology, capital and talent, and encourage enterprises involved in the night-time economy to continue to innovate their products and services while meeting market needs; It is also possible to introduce more perfect policies and measures, increase market positioning, supervision and guidance, industry management and other overall measures, so that we can better construct the consumption environment such as food, viewing, sightseeing environment and service attitude that tourists attach importance to, so as to gradually establish a complete and systematic night economy overall planning system.
In July 2024, Bubble Mart City Park, Chaoyang District, Beijing at night Photo courtesy of the interviewed enterprises
Jing Maobin, a special consultant of the Tourism Marketing Branch of the China Tourism Association, previously said that the "night economy" has become a new track to show the city's image. At the same time, the "night economy" also provides opportunities for the development of the city's creative industries, and provides a platform for the city to showcase and inherit local culture. Through nighttime cultural activities and performances, promote local traditional arts, folk culture and historical heritage, strengthen the awareness and understanding of local culture, and promote the inheritance and promotion of local culture.
Every city has its own unique culture. As for how to dig deep into local characteristics and cultural characteristics, Gong Kedi said that folk customs, humanistic spirit, and cultural inheritance are the inner temperament and cultivation of a city, and they are also the source of the potential and vitality of urban development. In the night economy activities, operators should be based on the characteristics of the product, combined with the historical tradition and cultural characteristics of the region, to create a space scene with night characteristics, and to the space of the business place for targeted design, so that it has a distinct value taste and cultural characteristics, in short, should be based on the cultural economy as the carrier, to promote the city's consumption upgrading, in a unique way to shape the night economy brand of each region.
Reporter丨Lu Tianjiao
Editor丨Jin Shan
Design丨Zhang Rui