The one-person regime is influencing every aspect of clothing, food, and housing. As a result, it's driving changes in consumption tastes across many fields. First, today's consumers want a "bigger room." They're spending more time at home, and the desire to handle various activities inside the home is growing. Many consumption rituals are changing. Demand for delivery is rising, and people want to handle meals simply at home. Consequently, along with growing consumer demand for delivery and home meal replacements, the related market is expected to grow further. (p. 31) "Home-tr" — a new Korean word for home fitness training. You may have heard it. Instead of going to external fitness centers to learn from professional trainers, you work out alone at home. More people are practicing or thinking about trying "home-tr" these days. The arrival of "the YouTube trainer," which kindly teaches exercises whenever you need, has likely had a big effect. As the authors analyze, the "1 person," "alone," "at home" trend has a huge impact on our daily lives and overall economic activity. Here are some of the cases they surveyed. - More people experiencing "home-tr." ("I'm practicing home-tr at home": 29.4%) - Solo meals becoming routine. ("I'm very used to eating alone": 67.2%) - Increase in using delivery apps on smartphones. (2017 24.9% -> 2018 34.7%) - Increased preference for making food at home. ("I prefer home-made food over eating out": 50.8%) The "1 person," "alone," "at home" trend. We should pay attention to the changes in consumer preferences and markets that this is driving. |
(Charles's normal note)
The one-person economy has been around for a while. Roughly estimated by the time I started learning about it through articles and reports, it's been about 15 years since the term "trend" began to be used for it.
What has changed is the quantitative ratio and the qualitative weight.
They avoid meeting others, yet want to stay connected. They value privacy, yet share their daily lives with an unknown crowd. They pursue their own satisfaction, yet crave the support of others. At this point, I suspect it may be the product of childhood deficits created by social change. The so-called Gen Y or millennials are effectively the children of the 1st and 2nd generation of dual-income couples.
They find things bothersome, yet want to flaunt the "diligence" aspect.
For example, they don't just do home-tr or solo meals alone, quietly, pathetically, as is — they share their own home-tr and solo meals in real time or indirectly. They log proof. They share their lifestyle. By getting objective validation that they're smart consumers from others, they work to self-earn what they missed from home in their childhood.
Of course not everyone.
Objective validation consists of (1) direct brokers who upload proof shots and (2) a larger group of sympathizers who gain indirect validation by mimicking (purchasing) the behavior.
This is a part that could be missed when designing a business model. You need to carefully design (1) where content is generated and (2) where product or service is consumed.
