Gen Z in China is a hot topic. Gen Z is a collective term for the 15-29 age group. This generation accounts for 18.4% of China's population of 1.4 billion. Gen Z's consumption behavior is attracting attention from all fields. It is said that about 80% of users of the Chinese SNS "Soul" are Gen Z. There is data on Gen Z's consumption behavior on this "Soul". According to the data, during the "Singles' Day" sale, more than 30% of buyers looked at multiple sites to compare prices. During the recent "Singles' Day" sale, 43.4% of buyers made purchases with a clear purpose. Among this generation, words such as "stingy economy", which emphasizes quality and cost performance, are popular on SNS.
The Chinese government is seriously working to maintain an annual economic growth rate of about 5%. To that end, it is trying to ease concerns about deflation. As a measure to do so, it is focusing on expanding domestic consumption. If consumption starts to rise, it may ease deflationary pressure to a certain extent. The Chinese government is exploring how to help the younger generation earn enough wages and be more proactive in spending. For this diligent Chinese government, the saving tendencies of Gen Z are one of the concerns. The decline in the willingness to spend among Gen Z, who are the main consumers, is a factor that could have a long-term impact.
One company with an interesting perspective is Panasonic in Japan. Panasonic has also begun to analyze customer data to improve the efficiency of product development and sales promotion. According to the data, Gen Z tends to prefer living with pets. Panasonic sells a set of washing machines and dryers that can remove pet hair. It is estimated that 16 million dogs and cats are kept in Japan. The number of pets kept in China is on the scale of 130 million. The pet-related market in Japan is worth over 1.5 trillion yen. The market environment surrounding pets is expanding from material consumption such as pet food and clothing to services such as travel and entertainment. If the pet market in China takes root, it will be nearly 10 times the size of Japan. More and more pet lovers are looking to treat their pets as members of the family and enjoy traveling and going out with them. If the pet industry becomes one of the factors that contributes to China's economic development, it could be a fun thing for companies both in China and abroad.