Reporter | Yan Ruiyue
Shenzhen, the youngest city in China, where young people gather, not only breeds rich nightlife, but also provides more opportunities for businesses to make money.
Recently, Ruiyide, a commercial real estate service provider, released a research report on Shenzhen nightlife. In the ranking of the urban nightlife index obtained through the comprehensive scores of Didi Chuxing, public comments and other websites, Shenzhen’s urban nightlife index ranked second, second only to Shanghai.
Previously, the data released by Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security Bureau showed that the average age of talents introduced in Shenzhen in 2017 was 27.07 years old, of which 211,500 were under 35 years old, accounting for more than 90%. Most of these talents are concentrated in pillar industries and strategic emerging industries, and their average wages are higher than those in most cities in China.
Ruiyide research found that bars, cinemas, KTV, fitness, supper, Internet cafes, performing arts and convenience stores constitute the eight core nightlife forms in Shenzhen. They not only provide young people with wonderful nights, but also carry the wealth dreams of merchants.
Sociable, can stay up late, but lively not only in the city center.
The nightlife in the city reflects the living conditions of consumers. In Shenzhen, a city with opportunities and pressures in Qi Fei, young people want to seize every opportunity to relax. According to the report, Shenzhen is the city with the highest proportion of people exercising at night in China, and the number of people exercising after 6 pm accounts for more than 70% of the total number of people exercising all day. The activity of night movies here also ranks first in the country, with an average of 1078 night movies per day, nearly 300 more than Shanghai, which ranks second. The closing time is also the latest in the country. On average, the lights of Shenzhen cinemas will not really go out until 1:17 am.
There are many "night walkers", so it is not difficult to understand that the number of take-away orders from 21: 00 pm to 2: 00 am in Shenzhen will rank first in the country.
There are more than 43,000 snack shops here, and there are not only canteens in the middle of the night, but also hot pot, barbecue and dry fried beef river. Shenzhen also has a leading nightclub market in the country, and craft beer bars also occupy a place that cannot be ignored in the dark of this city.
At the same time, from the park density, the number of gymnasiums per capita, the number of large-scale event venues and other dimensions, Shenzhen also has the first fitness infrastructure construction and the benign operation rate of venues in China, and the participation rate of urban sports here is the third in China, second only to Beijing and Shanghai. It seems that indulgence is as important as health care for young people in Shenzhen.
Vibrant nightlife is not limited to the downtown area. In Bao ‘an District, which is commonly known as "outside the customs" and has a weak urban development process, the distribution potential of bars is the most obvious, and the number of KTV and Internet cafes accounts for the largest proportion in all districts in Shenzhen. In Longhua and Longgang, which are close to the downtown area, the bar consumption here can reach an average of 251-350 yuan, and the consumption capacity is no less than that of bars in the core areas such as Nanshan and Futian.
According to Ruiyide’s analysis, the area outside the customs also presents strong consumption potential, which reflects the result that a large number of young white-collar groups choose their preferred residence in non-central areas with less rent pressure. After all, according to the data of China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the average transaction price of houses in Nanshan District, Shenzhen Central District has reached 100,791 yuan/square meter in July 2018, which is still a figure of 19.9% lower than the previous month. In contrast, Bao ‘an District only needs 56,205 yuan to own a square meter of its own home, and its friendliness is still higher.
Businesses adjust their operations and niche markets rise.
Businesses will certainly not miss the powerful consumption power released by young people.
But young people’s business also needs more thought. For example, cinemas can’t just meet the needs of watching movies. In a newly opened Xintian Cinema in Longhua, Shenzhen, in addition to cinema films, private meeting rooms and interactive spaces will be added. Its location in Longhua District also echoes the trend of population overflow. Moreover, the construction cost of these non-downtown areas is low, and there is more room for introducing new equipment. Xintian Cinema has the largest IMAX cinema in Shenzhen, which is difficult to achieve in the old cinemas in the old city. Similarly, there is KTV. In 2018, most of the new high-end KTVs in Shenzhen are mainly non-chain and themed. Besides singing, they also need to provide special themes and online celebrity photo spots.
Xintian cinemaShenzhen’s developed midnight snack market is also attracting chain restaurants to follow up.
Many catering enterprises, which didn’t do midnight snack originally, began to extend their business hours. When they met brands such as Xiaomian and Starbucks, they all opened 24-hour stores in Shenzhen. The business hours of hot pot brands such as Dalongyi and Shu Daxia were extended to 2 pm, and Victory Cantonese Restaurant also opened Victory snack experts to enter the midnight snack market by adding sub-brands. Shopping malls are also seizing the midnight snack. According to Ruiyide’s statistics, the midnight snack format is gradually becoming a major format choice of shopping centers. This year, commercial bodies have laid out midnight snack markets and appeared full-time theme shopping blocks. In the future, the snack brand will become the key investment choice for shopping centers.
Merchants can also take the initiative to try niche markets or new models to attract young people.
The main target customers of Shenzhen Broadway Film Center are those who love art films. Themed activities such as "Young Directors Directing New Images" and "Re-exploring China’s New Films" have been held here, which is not only a cinema, but also a film culture exhibition center.
Shenzhen de theme KTVInternet gymnasiums are also very popular in Shenzhen, and local representative brands include Super Orangutan and Leke. Most of them are single-time retail models, providing 24-hour flexible fitness time and low course cost, which are suitable for young people. Moreover, compared with traditional gymnasiums, Internet gymnasiums have more sources of income, and they can charge for each lecture, buy and sell fitness warehouses, retail sports in online shopping malls, and rent venues. At present, Internet gyms account for 2% of the whole fitness market in Shenzhen.
Operation is still the key, and some consumption still needs to be cultivated.
But the nightlife market in Shenzhen is not completely worry-free.
Although the city is tolerant of all kinds of business models, the capital, resources and operational capacity that operators need to pay can not be discounted if they want to truly gain a foothold. In 2018, there were more than 130 whisky/cocktail bars in Shenzhen, but many of them closed down, exceeding 40. The fine operation brought by personalized development has become the main bottleneck of the development of some bar cleaning. In addition, nightclubs account for a small proportion of 1,192 bars in Shenzhen, only 45, because they need a lot of upfront capital investment and the ability to integrate entertainment resources.
The same is true for the fitness industry. The private and low-cost fitness studios account for 72% of the Shenzhen fitness center market. However, in 2018, the closing rate of fitness studios was as high as 18.7%, much higher than the opening rate of 12.8%. Small space, less equipment, homogeneous competition and low resistance to brain drain risk are the main reasons for business failure.
For some consumption types, Shenzhen has not yet cultivated suitable soil. For example, the performing arts format that belongs to the mainstream of night consumption. There is a big gap between Shenzhen and Beijing and Shanghai in terms of the number of venues and the schedule of events. According to the analysis of the person in charge of Shenzhen poly theatre, there is no complete performing arts training mechanism in Shenzhen, and the performing arts atmosphere is weak and the market scale is small, which has become a major factor restricting the development of performing arts.
