Mintel estimates that consumer spending on night life (including leisure and entertainment, tourism, foodservice, transportation and shopping) was close to RMB10 trillion in 2018, equivalent to 11% of China’s GDP the same year. The government has set out 20 measures to boost the night economy in the years to come, which brings more reasons to pay close attention to this market sector.

Mintel research shows that, after a long day’s work, leisure and relaxation are what most Chinese consumers want at night. With fast-paced economic development, consumers have paid more attention to health and wellness than before, opening up a wide range of opportunities for brands to help people chill out and de-stress.

An experience is another thing consumers look for. In both China and globally, brands have been creating “new indulgent or unique” leisure experiences at night in many industries, such as tourism, entertainment and cultural events, foodservice and retail. There is a growing demand for service providers in China to bring a wider variety of new choices to consumers.

This Report looks at how people spend their night life (defined as 6pm-5am the next morning) on both weekdays and weekends. Night life activities include both non-leisure (household chores, parenting) and leisure-oriented activities, with a focus on the latter, which can be broadly split into the following segments:

• Shopping

• Entertainment (eg watching a movie/TV drama, singing/karaoke, playing video games or chess/ card games, going to a nightclub/ disco, playing indoor themed club such as room escape or script role playing, etc)

• Cultural activities (eg go to exhibitions, watch live performance)

• Exercise/sports

• Dining out

• Dance (eg square dancing, ballroom dance, hip-hop, etc).