From ＂utility＂ to ＂cure＂, is it worth paying for ＂emotional value＂？

— — Decoding one of "Emotional Consumption"

"Only when I buy blind boxes, open blind boxes and assemble blind boxes can I really feel happy."

As a financial worker, 29-year-old Li Muzi "works and lives at two points and one line" every day. The atmosphere in the office environment is depressing, and she gradually gets tired of the life of "looking at the end at a glance", and often falls into pessimism and depression uncontrollably.

Two years ago, when she was shopping with friends, she bought a blind box. Only she drew the hidden money. This accident opened another "lifestyle" for her.

When her friends called her "European God" and "Goddess of Blind Box" with envy and excitement, she felt "long-lost happiness and excitement". After that, every time she saw the blind box, she couldn’t help laughing and thinking of herself dancing with her friends.

She gradually fell in love with this feeling. In the past two years, she bought more than 100 hand-made and blind boxes filled the whole cabinet.

Photo courtesy of respondents

"They saved me." Li Muzi said that she began to learn to pay for "happiness"."People live for 30,000 days, and a good mood is more important than anything."

In recent years, more and more people pay for emotions like Li Muzi. Tide shops, pet shops and millet shops are crowded with young people, and emotional services such as "accompanying", "sleeping" and "decompression" are favored.

Some institutions expect that,In 2025, the market scale related to emotional consumption will exceed 2 trillion yuan, of which the market scale of blind boxes will exceed 58 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 28% compared with 16.5 billion yuan in 2024.

Endogenous demand

As a practitioner in the psychological counseling industry, Zhang Yihuan has been observing social emotions. She said: "In recent years, with the intensification of social involution and anxiety, emotional relaxation has become the psychological appeal of young people."According to "In 2024, 94% of young people are suffering from significant mental and emotional stress.

According to the Report on the Development of National Mental Health in China, the level of anxiety and depression of young people aged 18-34 is higher than that of other age groups, and the pressure from work and family has become the main source of anxiety.

"These pressures need to be exported," Zhang Yihuan said. Especially in the digital age, interpersonal relationships are "atomized" (that is, interpersonal relationships become loose, isolated and lack of deep connection), which makes it easier to deepen loneliness and make people more inclined to comfort their hearts by buying virtual emotional products.

Photo courtesy of respondents

Zhang Yihuan believes that social media has an "expanding effect" and can quickly spread minority emotions into a "group resonance". "Creating a specific emotional atmosphere can stimulate more people’s desire for consumption." She said, "For example, because the anchor said a sentence that caused empathy, he placed an order to buy a product, or because of a certain product ‘ Emotional value ’ Have a desire to buy. "

Zhang Wenlong, who changed from a chef carving melons and fruits to a woodcarver, accidentally discovered and grasped the value of "emotion".

A strawberry carved out of wood in his spare time at work became an opportunity for him to change from "serving the table" to "serving the mood".

In the live broadcast room in Zhang Wenlong, woodcarving ornaments are sold: small strawberry spoons, small flames, small wooden horses, cat pendants and doll ornaments … … Although these things "may have no practical effect", he still insists thatYou can’t ignore the power of emotions.

In his audience, there is a girl with leukemia. In the process of struggling with illness, the little girl saw the video of him making Xiao Mu spoon, which made her smile. After learning that the little girl loved her work, Zhang Wenlong gave her the spoon.

Photo courtesy of respondents

"Many buyers say that my works have surpassed ordinary handicrafts and are full of childlike interest, warmth, daily care and even hope." Zhang Wenlong said, "This spiritual power is now ‘ Scarce goods ’ . The living conditions of the younger generation are generally better now, and they have ‘ Pay for interest ’ The ability. "

Zhang Yihuan has the same view. "At the same time, young people are also facing problems such as high housing prices and employment pressure, and many people cannot afford large-scale consumption.This contradictory state makes their pursuit of life value turn — — More inclined to live in the present and enjoy timely happiness. "

Through the emotional consumption activities with low unit price, low threshold and high frequency, I add fun to my life. Zhang Yihuan believes that this endogenous motivation provides a very broad development space for emotional consumption.

Practical concession

In the traditional consumption concept, people pay more attention to the practicality and cost performance of goods. "But now, ‘ Emotional value ’ Become a key indicator of consumption decision. " Zhang Yihuan said.

"Pleasure, sense of belonging, and sense of identity are becoming valuable."After leaving the psychological counseling industry, Zhao Huixi turned to be an "emotional companion", mainly serving some primary and secondary school students. What impressed her deeply was that the new generation of parents paid more attention to the influence of "emotion" on their children’s growth.

Zhao Huixi works about 5 hours a day, and the charge is 200 yuan per hour. Work includes daily safety care, accompanying children when guardians are away, and emotional interaction, such as listening to children’s school experiences, providing comfort when they are frustrated, or guiding children to learn basic social rules and stimulate their hobbies. Zhao Huixi believes that "unlike nannies,The child companion is ‘ Educational companionship ’ , not ‘ Transactional care ’. "

Source: vision china

From diet to spiritual needs, the concept of educational consumption has changed from "visible courses and care" to "invisible listening and counseling" Zhao Huixi’s clients have changed from three a year ago to 17 now. In the process of contacting with children and parents, this change in concept is more and more truly perceived by her.

The change of educational consumption concept is only a corner of the huge emotional consumption market. According to Zhang Yihuan’s observation,Now almost all consumption scenes are endowed with emotional functions:Bookstores no longer just sell books, but create a "healing corner" through soft clothing, and catering brands print warm sentences such as "Have a good meal today" on the packaging bags.

"These details are in the ‘ Functional service ’ Become ‘ Emotional care ’ 。” Zhang Yihuan said,After people’s basic needs such as physiology and safety are met, they will begin to pursue higher-level needs, such as belonging, emotional satisfaction, self-realization and so on.

"People pay more attention to the personalized expression of themselves and will be willing to pay for products that reflect unique emotions and attitudes." Zhang Yihuan said.

New business opportunities

Facing up to "emotional needs" and integrating "emotional interaction" are also becoming "KPI" for merchants and designers. Zhang yangshen, the product director of shangtang technology co., ltd., was deeply touched.

When he decided to develop a bookkeeping software that can realize "emotional interaction", he had an insight into the needs of young people: bookkeeping is becoming a new way of life, but traditional software bookkeeping is cumbersome and "lacks positive incentives", which makes it difficult for users to persist. Zhang Yang and the team noticed that users who keep accounts often have the same needs for recording life scenes and emotions.

Photo courtesy of respondents

Zhang Yang believes that if a product wants users to "use", "like" or even "rely on", it should not only rely on rich functions, but also "have personality and be able to talk". In addition to passively replying to users’ messages, it can also actively talk, understand intentions and give suggestions instead of "passively waiting for users to open" every time.

As a result, an AI bookkeeping software that can realize emotional interaction was born — — It takes "emotional value" as a differentiated selling point: it can not only realize the basic bookkeeping function, but also use AI to interact with users, so that users can record their feelings during consumption.

The feedback from the market proved their judgment: "Kappi Bookkeeping" was launched for half a year, and the number of users exceeded one million, ranking first in the AI Bookkeeping Track.

"Changed my bookkeeping for many years only ‘ Three-minute heat ’ Even the habit of recording false accounts for a long time. " In the comment area of the app store, there are many similar comments on this software.

The development of technology provides a strong support for the explosion of emotional economy.The application of big data and artificial intelligence technology has created new opportunities for product design and development.— — Although "technology" and "emotion" do not seem to have a strong correlation, Zhang Yang believes that these two rapidly developing concepts can be combined.

“‘Technology+emotion ’ Will be the general trend in the future.Zhang Yang believes that "all AI products will provide emotional value in the future,

This is also one of the important factors that determine the product audience increment and stickiness. "

Photo courtesy of respondents

Zhang Yihuan believes that the wide application of big data and artificial intelligence today can enable businesses to more accurately capture the emotional needs of consumers, thus developing products that are more in line with the market. "These technologies give consumer goods more personalized value and significance, ‘ Let products have stories, experiences and atmosphere ’ This will drive the further growth of emotional consumption. "

The reporter checked the "Aiqicha" platform and found that in the past five years, the number of enterprises registered related to the concept of "decompression" exceeded 11,000, of which more than 3,100 were registered in the past year. Taobao Tmall’s "618" battle report shows that the three major emotional tracks of tide play, pets and sports broke out, and the turnover of 2,400 tide play shops increased by more than 100%.

"Endogenous demand+concept change+business opportunity mining have promoted the explosive growth of emotional economy." Zhang Yihuan said, "However, we can’t just see the benefits brought by the rapid growth of emotional consumption.In the process of rapid development of the industry, some ‘ Noise ’ And ‘ Episode ’ While expressing your emotions, you should also remain calm and alert."

Producer: Li Shaofei

Reporter: Yu Tianqi