Frost & Sullivan: Initial Release - The Economy of First-Mover Advantage, the Ice and Snow Economy, and the Silver Economy Lead Consumption Upgrade

Frost & Sullivan: Initial Release - The Economy of First-Mover Advantage, the Ice and Snow Economy, and the Silver Economy Lead Consumption Upgrade

2025/02/17

Frost & Sullivan Insights

In December 2024, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to actively develop the first-mover economy, the ice and snow economy, and the silver-haired economy. What signals does this send? Affected by the real estate market, current home industry consumption is under pressure and faces what challenges? What are the future development prospects and trends? What new growth directions are there in the home industry in the future?

 

Huang Ruibing, a consulting advisor for Frost & Sullivan Greater China, was interviewed by the Daily Economic News to discuss new trends and opportunities in the future economy.

Daily Economic News

*Click at the end of the articleRead the original articleto view the complete report

 

Q:In December 2024, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to actively develop the first-mover economy, the ice and snow economy, and the silver-haired economy. What signals does this send?

Huang Ruibing

Consulting Advisor for Frost & Sullivan Greater China

From the perspective of consumption, this indicates the country's emphasis and promotion of consumption upgrading. The first-mover economy refers to economic activities such as companies releasing new products, launching new business forms, new models, new services, new technologies, and opening their first stores. These activities can stimulate consumers' pursuit and desire for novelty, meet the increasingly diverse and personalized needs of consumers at different levels, further tap consumption potential, and promote the optimization and upgrading of the consumption structure. The ice and snow economy and the silver-haired economy target specific consumer groups—ice and snow enthusiasts and the large elderly population respectively, making precise efforts to open up consumer markets in niche areas, enriching consumption scenarios, and injecting new momentum into consumption growth.

 

In terms of industrial development, this is a powerful signal guiding industrial structure adjustment and innovative development. The first-mover economy encourages companies to increase R&D investment, accelerate product iteration and updates, enhance brand competitiveness, and promote the development of various industries towards high-end, intelligent, and green directions. The development of the ice and snow economy will drive the coordinated development of a series of related industries such as ice and snow sports equipment manufacturing, ice and snow tourism, and ice and snow event operations, forming new industrial clusters and industrial chains. The rise of the silver-haired economy prompts industries such as elderly care services, elderly products, and health care to continuously innovate and improve to meet the development needs of an aging society and promote diversified industrial development.

 

At the macroeconomic level, these characteristic economic forms help cultivate new economic growth points and enhance the resilience and vitality of economic development. Against the backdrop of complex and changing global economic situations, developing these emerging economic models can broaden China's economic development path, optimize the economic structure, improve the quality and sustainability of economic development, and provide strong support for achieving stable economic growth.

 

Q:Affected by the real estate market, current home industry consumption is under pressure and faces what challenges? What are the future development prospects and trends?

Huang Ruibing

Consulting Advisor for Frost & Sullivan Greater China

Currently, the home industry is affected by the real estate market and faces many challenges, including shrinking demand, fierce competition, and changes in consumption concepts.

 

Firstly, the demand side has significantly contracted. The downturn in the real estate market has directly led to a decline in new home transactions, and new home renovation is one of the important driving forces for home consumption. The reduction in new home deliveries has greatly reduced the direct demand for home products, causing a decline in orders and performance for many home enterprises.

 

Secondly, competition has become increasingly fierce. With limited market demand, competition among home enterprises has entered a white-hot stage. There are not only price wars and channel wars between traditional home brands but also new competitive pressures brought about by the influx of cross-border enterprises. Although the development of e-commerce platforms has expanded sales channels, it has also intensified price transparency and further compressed the profit margins of enterprises.

 

Furthermore, challenges brought about by changes in consumer concepts. Today's consumers pay more attention to environmental protection, quality, and personalization, and have higher requirements for home products. This requires home enterprises to continuously upgrade in product research and development, production technology, etc., but this undoubtedly increases the cost input of enterprises. For some enterprises with weaker financial strength, it is difficult to quickly adapt to this change.

 

However, despite facing challenges, the future development prospects of the home industry are still broad. With the gradual recovery of China's economy and the continuous advancement of urbanization, rigid housing demand still exists, and improved housing demand is also constantly being released, which will bring new opportunities to the home industry. At the same time, the renovation and transformation demand of the existing housing market is gradually becoming a new hot spot in home consumption, opening up new space for industry development.

 

The future development of the home industry shows the following trends:

 

First is intelligence. With the popularization of technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, smart home products will increasingly be favored by consumers, and home intelligence will become an important direction for industry development.

 

Second is green environmental protection. The enhanced awareness of environmental protection among consumers prompts home enterprises to pay more attention to the environmental performance of products, adopting environmentally friendly materials and implementing green production will become industry standards.

 

Third is customization. The full-house customization business that meets consumers' personalized needs will continue to maintain growth momentum. Enterprises need to continuously improve their design capabilities and service levels to adapt to the development of the customization market.

 

Fourth is the integration of online and offline. Online channels can expand brand influence and customer groups, while offline experience stores can provide more intuitive product displays and services. The deep integration of the two will become the key for home enterprises to enhance their competitiveness.

 

Q:What new growth directions are there in the home industry in the future?

Huang Ruibing

Consulting Advisor for Frost & Sullivan Greater China

The field of smart health homes is an important growth point. With people's increasing attention to life quality and health, the market potential of health home products with functions such as intelligent monitoring, air purification, and sleep assistance is huge. For example, smart mattresses can monitor sleep data in real time and analyze it to provide personalized sleep suggestions for users; smart lamps with air purification functions can not only illuminate but also improve indoor air quality. Such products not only meet consumers' pursuit of a healthy life but also bring new technological innovations and market opportunities to the home industry.

 

Age-friendly homes are also a highly potential direction. China's aging population is constantly deepening, and the elderly population is huge, with special needs for home products. With the development of the silver-haired economy, age-friendly furniture is designed fully considering the physical characteristics and usage habits of the elderly, such as high height suitability, soft materials, and safety functions such as anti-slip and anti-fall. In addition, related home products such as barrier-free facilities and elderly rehabilitation aids will also see rapid development. Creating one-stop age-friendly home solutions around the elderly population will become a new business growth point for the industry.

 

The outdoor home market is expected to rise rapidly. With the transformation of people's leisure lifestyle, they pay more attention to the utilization and creation of outdoor spaces. The market demand for outdoor furniture, courtyard decorations, gardening supplies, etc. continues to grow. Consumers hope to create comfortable and beautiful leisure environments outdoors and enjoy natural life. Therefore, high-quality, personalized, and outdoor environment-adapted outdoor home products will have broad market prospects.

 

The first-mover economy drives home enterprises to innovate and develop. With the development of the first-mover economy, home enterprises can also lead consumer trends by releasing new products, new business forms, new models, etc. For example, launching innovative home products, opening first stores or flagship stores, etc., to attract consumers' attention and purchase. This not only helps to enhance the brand awareness and market share of enterprises but also promotes the innovative development of the entire home industry.

 

Therefore, fields such as smart health, age-friendly, outdoor, and innovative development will bring new growth momentum and development opportunities to the home industry.

*This interview has been published inDaily Economic NewsReporter: Cheng Ya, original title: Net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses has been in deficit for 7 consecutive years; the operating difficulties of YAZHEN Home reflect the fierce competition in the furniture industry; Ice and Snow Economy | Kangliyuan: Expanding simulated ice and snow sports fitness equipment will be comprehensively evaluated to determine whether investment will be increased

 

Contact phone: 021-5407-5836

Contact email: PR@frostchina.com


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