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Selected as the top ten Internet terms in 2024
The term “manager”
I believe many of you have heard of it.
So here comes the question
What does “manager” mean?
Managers usually refer to the owners or professional managers of trendy brands. They are not only the leaders of the brands, but also the creators of the content. The “Manager Economy” derived from this is a new economic form that is centered on managers and conducts business operations around their values, life philosophy, aesthetic orientation, etc. At present, Nanjing’s “Manager Economy” is booming, and a group of idealistic and talented managers have emerged.
What makes this era
Let the city of Nanjing
More and more?
What are their characteristics?
Follow Xiaobu
Entering Nanjing
Nanjing managers are very good at “explosive reform”
High in “green”
In recent years, the number of owner-branded stores in our city has grown rapidly, with about 2,000 stores now. Most of the operators are born in the 1990s, who like to inject their unique personalities and hobbies into the stores, providing consumers with creative, vital, fashionable and differentiated services and products, bringing new vitality to the urban consumer market.
Youthful vitality and high education
The managers in our city are generally younger, with about 80% under the age of 40. Among them, 12.3% are aged 20-25, 35.6% are aged 25-30, 37.2% are aged 30-35, and 14.9% are aged 35 and above. This age structure is due to the rich university resources in our city. More than 1 million college students and nearly 300,000 graduates each year are important sources of managers. At the same time, Nanjing managers generally have a high level of education, and nearly 50% come from famous universities such as Nanjing University and Dongda University. They have active thinking, strong innovation ability, and fully understand the consumption habits and trends of young people. Nearly 20% of the managers have overseas study experience, have a broader vision, and have a deeper understanding of the characteristics of domestic and foreign consumer groups and different cultural differences. They are good at using “differentiation” to create brands with more fashionable experience and cultural atmosphere, thereby creating new consumption.
The momentum of blooming everywhere
Our city has a rich variety of “manager economy” business formats, mainly including restaurants, coffee shops, jewelry, cultural and creative workshops, various life festivals, specialty farms, indoor zoos and other different types of manager stores with their own unique characteristics, some of which have already formed competitive advantages.
For example, some brands have seen a surge in customer traffic. The 2024 Fourth Nanjing Hamburger Festival and HOCH Youth Music Festival held in Jianye District attracted 100,000 visitors and sales of nearly 16 million yuan; the “rocho Lighthouse Cafe” officially opened for only one week and received more than 20,000 tourists during the National Day holiday, and once topped the Weibo “National Cafe Ranking”.
Some brands are developing rapidly. Some stores have opened branches and even expanded beyond Nanjing to other places. The “Yangying Huotang” music pub has been invited by cities such as Wuxi, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, and hopes to use the brand to drive the development of the local “manager economy” and cultural tourism industry.
Full of personality and unconventional
The group of managers likes to make creative transformations and cross-border integrations on something in order to attract attention. In particular, the explosive transformation craze in the beverage industry last year made the managers have a lot of fun with “brain holes” such as milk tea foot bath bags and coriander coffee. At the same time, Nanjing’s old residential areas, shopping malls and even industrial relics have gradually become a stage for young people to show their creative talents. For example, in the Taogu Park Exhibition Art Space, the managers transformed a high-end art venue into a cultural gathering place hidden in the community, guiding residents to walk into the store while walking and shopping for groceries to enjoy the influence of art.
For example, the owner of Lulu Zoo transformed the mall space into an indoor zoo, allowing parents and children to interact closely with a variety of animals such as sika deer, alpacas, peacocks, etc. For another example, the owner of Stethoscope Coffee innovatively transformed and utilized the existing assets on campus, revitalized old building spaces, provided high-quality products and services, and helped build a student community.
Flexible and changeable strategies
Although the stores of the managers are generally small and exquisite, their business strategies are different. Some of them focus on special brands, such as the leading brand of cultural and creative products in our city, “NIJO Nijo Store”, which has expanded from a restaurant to daily necessities, coffee shops, cultural and creative products, etc., and has become a gathering place for special community stores with its artistic decoration style and niche products.
Some use the traffic of Internet celebrities to create special consumption, such as the restaurant manager “Xiao Li is a little hungry”, who became an Internet celebrity by creating short videos about Western food, and then created various hamburger festivals, music festivals and other activities to achieve the transformation from online traffic to offline value. Some focus on developing special products. Liu Yang, the manager of “NEWSROME Coffee”, said, “We combine coffee with traditional Chinese culture, which is favored by many customers.”
