Millions of people make drastic changes to their lifestyles amid the novel coronavirus outbreak
An epidemic prevention worker helps carry goods for people quarantined at a neighborhood in Jinan, Shandong province. (WANG FENG / FOR CHINA DAILY)
Shen Yiliang, a 25-year-old programmer at an internet company in Beijing, is no longer woken by his parents every morning to run errands to buy daily necessities.
Instead, as soon as they get up, his parents use their smartphones to search for fresh vegetables, quickly placing orders online.
Shen’s 69-year-old grandmother, who long refused to use any electronic devices, now asks him to teach her how to download short-video apps. Not only has she become adept at using them, but she is able to hold livestreaming square dancing sessions and chat with her audience.
Like Shen, millions of people have made drastic changes to their lifestyles amid the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak.
With more time being spent at home, businesses, schools, governments, real estate agencies and even zoo managers are among those who have increased their online usage as a “homebound” economy mushrooms nationwide.
Liu Mingdi, head of China strategy at UBS Investment Research, said: “The outbreak has shifted people’s consumption habits from offline to online in a range of sectors, including shopping, entertainment and education. Like the rapid rise of online shopping after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, many online sectors will see new opportunities.”
Tang Qing, a 29-year-old bank employee from Shanghai, now sets three clock alarms each day: for 6 am to buy fresh vegetables and meat online; 10 am to buy face masks; and 8 pm to buy disinfectant. However, with an increasing number of people buying goods online, some bestselling items often sell out just seconds after they appear on fresh food and e-commerce platforms.
“In addition to some necessities, instant food — be it noodles or frozen dumplings — is among my favorite buys,” said Tang, who is not good at cooking.
“Many fresh food and e-commerce platforms are also offering produce that has already been cut and washed, so I can directly place this food in the microwave to heat,” she said.
Buying food that is easy to cook has become especially popular among single people spending more time at home.
Data from online shopping platform Taobao showed that since the beginning of February, the number of searches for “instant noodles” had risen 200-fold compared with the same time last year.
Guoquan, a small platform selling washed and cooked hotpot ingredients, saw its revenue rocket to 20 million yuan (US$2.86 million) in a single day. Hotpot is considered particularly easy to cook, as it only involves all the ingredients being placed in boiling water.
A group of medium-sized and large e-commerce platforms have delivered over 160,000 daily orders in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
In Beijing, nearly 20,000 delivery riders are handling more than 400,000 takeout orders each day, according to the capital’s Municipal Market Regulation Bureau.
Wang Jun, chief finance officer at online fresh food startup Miss Fresh, said: “Before the outbreak, people only bought fresh vegetables, fruit and certain other foods online. But now they are buying everything online, including rice, flour and many other items. This will have a long-lasting effect on the country’s fresh food sector.”
During the epidemic, revenue at the company, which is based in Beijing, has risen by more than 300 percent and it has had to take urgent measures to ensure supplies are received.
Wang said: “During this time, we are offering higher pay for workers to handle and process vegetables. We have also increased supplies from our bases in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and in Yunnan and Shandong provinces, which are cooperating with each other on production.”
Workers at a hotpot restaurant in Chongqing prepare takeout vegetables. (WANG QUANCHAO / XINHUA)
Industry insiders said that along with increased prosperity for the fresh food and e-commerce sectors, there are bright prospects for the logistics industry.
Anxin Securities said in a research note that this industry will “embrace a turning point after the outbreak”, especially when authorities announce plans to promote contactless deliveries and intelligent lockers.
Contactless deliveries — takeout orders or packages sent to a certain place — are being used increasingly in China to avoid person-to-person contact and to better manage risks during the outbreak, while intelligent lockers are operated by using a pass code and are situated outside residential areas and communities.
Wang Zhibin, a researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory for Logistics Information Technology, said: “Though most consumers choose contactless deliveries to reduce risk and remain safe, they will get into the habit of using such services along with an increasing number of intelligent lockers and other infrastructure being built during the outbreak.
“As a result, the proportion of contactless deliveries is expected to rise, which will further spur the development of intelligent lockers, unmanned aerial vehicles as well as self-driving delivery cars.”
During the epidemic, a range of sectors, including real estate, education and restaurants, which traditionally rely heavily on offline sales, have been moving online, with the main aim being to prepare new growth engines.
With schools suspending lessons since Spring Festival, more than 80 educational companies are offering free online courses to the country’s student population of 280 million at institutions ranging from kindergartens to universities.
Xu Lening, an English-language teacher at Tunxi No.1 High School in Huangshan, Anhui province, taught two classes online last week — one through video recordings and the other via livestreaming courses.
“I had never imagined working in this way — where teachers are like livestreaming bloggers,” Xu said.
More than 600,000 teachers from scores of cities and counties nationwide have been holding lessons on the livestreaming platform Dingding, Alibaba’s remote office system, in a single day.
ClassIn, an online service provided by educational company EEO, received nearly 3,000 registrations from a range of institutions in just one day and has temporarily expanded the capacity of its computer system by 20 times. However, it has had to restrict the number of new registrations to ensure the system remains stable.
Zhang Lijun, an education veteran and partner at Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital company founded by investor Kai-Fu Lee, said: “The public has acquired more knowledge about online education companies during the epidemic. It will be easier for companies to acquire users at a comparatively lower cost than before the outbreak, and the number of subscribers to online education will rise by about 10 percent.
“In the long run, the outbreak will speed up the integration of online and offline education services. Those who are able to offer solid, stable services will gain an advantage.”
Another notable phenomenon saw some 2.32 million people use karaoke services in cyberspace during Spring Festival, according to a report released by online karaoke app Changba and Xiaomi TV, a subsidiary of Xiaomi Corp.
The sector, which traditionally depends heavily on offline karaoke bars, has made a significant switch to online as people look for ways to kill time at home.
Changba said it plans to hold a live online session with Modern Sky, one of China’s largest independent record companies, to attract more viewers during the outbreak. The project, which aims to introduce singers at online concerts, is highly likely to continue after the epidemic.
Xu Linfeng, a senior analyst at Huaxi Securities, said: “With many people stuck at home for a long time, there is the possibility that once the epidemic is over, offline consumption will see explosive growth, which in turn will lead to a downturn in online demand.”
Zhang, from Sinovation Ventures, said it will be difficult for companies to retain users on a sustainable basis and for them to become loyal customers after the epidemic. For example, the online education sector is unlikely to replace offline businesses in the long run, she said.
“Offline education will once again be the priority for many parents. Some of them don’t have the time and energy to take care of their children all day in front of a computer, while others want to protect their children’s eyesight (from computer screens),” she said.
Wu Jincao, senior analyst at Sinolink Securities in Shanghai, said the fresh food and e-commerce sectors will see rapid changes after the outbreak.
“Not all companies will survive. Only those with sufficient cash flow that can gain a lead in the supply chain are likely to succeed,” Wu said.
