Door-to-door services become new consumption choice for Chinese people

Driven by strong consumer demand, increasingly diversified door-to-door services have become a new consumption choice for Chinese people in recent years.

"Hello, I'm Amiao. This is the 28th order of door-to-door services for walking the dog for my customers," a post-95 woman nicknamed Amiao in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province said when shooting a video.

Her dog services include walking the dogs, taking them to pet stores for various services, preparing drinking water for them at her customers' homes, and playing with them.

Photo shows a photo of Amiao and her customer's dog. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Thanks to her good services and her sharing of videos about her services on social media, more and more customers in Chengdu have placed orders for her door-to-door services.

Zhang Yaohong is also a post-95s woman who runs a company that offers door-to-door chef services in Chengdu. Zhang's team members cook dishes according to customers' menus, or recommend menus to customers for reference, buy food for customers, and provide kitchen cleaning. Zhang receives surging orders during festivals, holidays, and work days.

In China, a large number of people provide a wide variety of door-to-door services such as domestic services, laundry services, and appliance repairs, as well as manicures, hairdressing and beauty services.

Zhang Yaohong, a young woman in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, and her colleague cook lunch at a customer's home. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

The popularity of door-to-door services reflects the general trend of consumption upgrading, said Lin Jiang, a professor at the department of economics of Lingnan College of Sun Yat-sen University. Lin added that some people choose door-to-door services because they value their privacy or prefer personalized services, and the number of people willing to spend on door-to-door services has risen significantly. "These are signs of consumption upgrading," Lin said.

According to Lin, the rapid development of the internet and its growing role in enabling people to socialize with others provide an interactive platform for the development of door-to-door services. People can place orders for services they need on various platforms, including e-commerce platforms and social media platforms, which is a result of the positive influences of the in-depth integration of the internet into door-to-door services, Lin explained.

Door-to-door services provide new ways and opportunities for more people to find jobs.

Li Xinliang is a young professional organizer in Beijing. "Several years ago, domestic consumers knew little about professional organizers and few placed orders. But now, people need professional organizers to help them organize their homes," he said. The company he works for received orders from more than 300 households in 2019, but this has exceeded 1,000 so far this year.

A colleague of Li Xinliang, a professional organizer, organizes things at a customer's home. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Li added that like him, over 30 full-time employees in the company became professional organizers after graduating.

"Door-to-door services create new professions and business models and provide more job opportunities for job seekers," Lin said.

Lin suggested intensifying efforts to review the qualifications of service providers to guarantee their service quality. Meanwhile, platforms need to clarify responsibilities, fulfill management duties, and establish a better evaluation system to select higher-quality service providers based on the consumer ratings of services.

Lin also recommended establishing an association of door-to-door service providers to protect their legal rights and interests.