Nowadays, as consumers purchase New Year goods, smart home products are increasingly becoming the preferred choice. Especially in third and fourth-tier cities, the demand for smart home products is strong, with smart speakers, smart locks, and robotic vacuum cleaners often included in the New Year shopping list.
1
Smart Robot “Chit-Chatting”
“New connection, new connection, buy goods, buy goods.” Consumers passing by Zhang Zhaokun’s fresh produce store in Leshan, Sichuan, are often attracted by the Tmall Genie speaking in the local dialect, leading them to enter the store to purchase New Year goods while chatting with the Tmall Genie. “This genie has ‘Five Blessings’ written on it, it looks festive, and listening to it chat is also enjoyable,” said Ms. Li, a customer buying New Year goods.
Visitors watching the performance of smart home robots at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services
“When someone talks to the Tmall Genie, it attracts more people to come in,” said Xiao Wang, a staff member at Zhang Zhaokun’s fresh produce store. The owner, Zhang Zhaokun, is a post-80s guy from Chengdu who quit his job at a foreign company in 2008 to start a fresh produce business, and he has been doing it for 13 years, with his business getting better and better.
In March and April 2020, due to the impact of the pandemic, Zhang Zhaokun’s store’s revenue began to decline. He then tried new methods in his operations. Using a smart speaker to promote sales was a new idea proposed by his wife.
“The Tmall Genie can remind us to work on time and even collect payments, making the store feel like it has a ‘little assistant.’ Now that smart products are getting better, customers enjoy interacting with them, leaving a deep impression, and they will come back next time,” Zhang Zhaokun said, noting that with the New Year approaching, he wanted to add some festive spirit to the store and create a warm atmosphere.
2
Smart Home Monitoring “Little Glutton”
For people in Sichuan, sausages are an essential dish for family reunions. Leshan native Shu Zhan is also a sausage enthusiast, and she has already hung sausages all over her balcony.
However, unlike previous years, this year Shu Zhan has an “extra burden”: “My baby is over a year old and is at a playful age. She loves to stand on the balcony and ‘steal’ the sausages,” Shu Zhan said with a smile.
First, she stares intently, then can’t help but poke at them, and sometimes she even licks them with her little hands. Nothing can stop a curious one-year-old “little foodie” from exploring the world of food. For Shu Zhan, her biggest concern is her child’s health; uncooked food can easily upset the stomach of a child with a sensitive digestive system.
“This smart speaker can customize voice prompts, right? I thought maybe I could record my voice and have the speaker repeat it, so it can remind my child when she touches the sausages and notify me to rush over immediately,” Shu Zhan said.
So, Shu Zhan took out all her smart home devices to create a “web of protection.” She connected the smart speaker with the smart drying rack for sausages, and through magnetic sensing, once someone pulls the drying rack, it will automatically send a voice report.
One weekend morning, the smart speaker monitoring the sausage system finally worked. “I was cooking at the time, and from a distance, I heard the speaker say, ‘Report to Mom, little daughter is playing with the sausages again,’ which made me both angry and amused,” Shu Zhan said.
3
Whole House Intelligence Becoming a New Trend
Today, focusing on improving quality of life, whole-house intelligence is gradually becoming a fashion trend in homes. Smart home products such as internet cameras that monitor in real-time 24/7, smart locks that allow remote unlocking, robotic vacuum cleaners that automatically plan cleaning paths, and smart refrigerators that provide food preservation alerts have become important considerations for consumers setting up new homes.
“I had previously experienced some smart products, which were quite useful. This time, taking advantage of the New Year, I upgraded my home, not just limited to single smart home products, but I hope to achieve whole-house intelligence, including smart curtains, water purification, and security. Whole-house intelligence is creative and not expensive, freeing up hands and greatly enhancing happiness and quality of life,” said Mr. Hu, who lives in Leshan.
The new highlights of consumption during the Spring Festival convey signals of consumption upgrades and reflect that residents’ consumption levels and concepts are shifting from basic necessities to enjoyment-oriented consumption on a spiritual level.
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Source: “Bimonthly Talk”2021 Issue 3
Bimonthly Talk Reporter: Yu Li
Editor: Guo Yanhui
Proofreader: Qin Daixin
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