China’s fascination with the “night economy” dates back centuries to as early as the Song Dynasty, where the concept was celebrated in Dreams of the Eastern Capital. Described as a golden era, where day and night seamlessly blended. The modern definition of the “night time economy,” however, was formally introduced by British economists in the 1970s. By the 1990s, cities like London embraced the vision of a “24-hour city,” inspiring global hubs such as New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Amsterdam to follow suit.
The night economy’s potential is evident from its impressive contributions worldwide. In 2015, San Francisco’s night time economy generated $6 billion in revenue. By 2017, it accounted for 6% of the UK’s GDP, ranking as the nation’s fifth-largest industry. In 2018, New York City’s night economy added approximately $10 billion to its economic development. Meanwhile, in 2022, China’s night time economy reached an estimated market size of 42.4 trillion yuan, reflecting a robust year-on-year growth rate of 16.7%.
Late-Night Economy: How the Night Economy Powers Sports Brands
The late-night economy, typically spanning from 16:00 PM to 10:00 PM, holds special significance for urbanites with 9 to 5 schedules. This precious post-work window is no longer just about “eating, drinking, and shopping.” Instead, it evolved into a time for blended experiences that combine relaxation, fitness, and socializing.
Consequently, nighttime light sports that combine social interaction with showcasing equipment have become the preferred activity for fashionable urbanites.
Data from Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) in 2022 highlights the growing popularity of these activities are rapidly growing popularity. Searches for baseball bars increased nearly 100% year-on-year, while night cycling searches grew more than sixfold. Frisbee experienced an incredible surge, with searches rising nearly 500 times annually. Meanwhile, the beginner-friendly activity of “night running” became a phenomenon, garnering over 500,000 searches on the platform. The 2021 China Running White Paper by Joyrun Circle further revealed that the post-90’s generation is the driving force behind the “night running tribe,” while participants among the post-2000s generation grew by 62.3%. Many large-scale running groups are organized or sponsored by sports brands, leveraging the connection between fitness and community.
Source：悦跑数据研究院
For established brands, initiatives like the “Night Run Bureau” not only target a precise audience but also provide an effective platform for product testing, fostering loyalty, and boosting repurchase rates, solidifying nighttime sports as a key strategy for growth.
Night Time Economy: Where Nightlife Shapes the Fashion Scene
As the night time economy evolves, it’s becoming increasingly younger. A recent report shows that 35.7% of people born in the 1990s and 36.1% of those born in the early 2000s stay awake past midnight, nearly double the rate of those born in the 1980s. For today’s youth, embracing the night has become a shared lifestyle choice.
The culture surrounding “nightlife” has long been intertwined with the fashion industry. Unlike traditional nightclubs that cater to a broad audience with drinks and ticket sales, today’s clubs offer much more. Brands are now collaborating with these venues for pop-up stores, joint events, and after-show parties. Many popular spots favored by brands are run by organizers deeply connected to the fashion world, and these venues often serve as platforms for networking. Young people are more likely to meet fashion editors or designers in these clubs than through traditional networking sites like LinkedIn.
One example of this dynamic is the Yongfu Club located in the former British Consulate, which transforms from a Michelin-starred restaurant by day into a renowned cultural hub by night. As a cultural salon, the Yongfu Club’s brand, KeepItQuiet, has hosted nearly 500 events, including music, dance, art exhibitions, and discussions. Like-minded creatives gather here, amplifying their influence via social media. It’s no surprise that high-profile brands like Samuel Gui Yang, Zhong Zixin, and Yuichi Yang have showcased collections in this space. Designers understand that hosting events in venues that resonate with their target audience brings them closer, both psychologically and geographically, to their core loyal consumers. Where the crowd is, there are business opportunities.
Stall Economy: Immersive Shopping with a “Scripted” Experience
According to the Ministry of Commerce, nighttime consumption in Chinese cities now accounts for 60% of total consumption, with shopping malls generating over half of their daily sales between 6 PM and 10 PM. As the night time economy becomes essential for driving foot traffic, many cities are working to create “24-hour non-sleeping urban areas,” and some regions are embracing stall-based businesses to boost nighttime spending. However, today’s night markets have evolved from small, scattered commodity exchanges to more immersive, thematic, and flexible consumer destinations.
In February 2023, COSMO Chengdu, a commercial property focused on local trend culture, teamed up with NEED!, a trendy second-hand e-commerce platform catering to Generation Z, to host the COSMO X NEED! Market. The event brought together over 400 high-quality stores and individual sellers, focusing on the 1990s and 2000s demographics. Previous events were held in cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, and the average sales per stall exceeded 20,000 yuan, with over 15 million online exposures.
On June 3, 2023, the Shanghai Nightlife Festival kicked off its opening ceremony on the BFC Bund Financial Center’s fifth-floor terrace, launching the “Open Night: Night Market Extravaganza” on the Maple Path. The event featured limited-time flash activities across seven themes: night shopping, night dining, night entertainment, night reading, night shows, night sports, and night tours. Over 40 representative brands participated, highlighting Shanghai’s vibrant “24-hour city” and energizing the Bund area’s night time economy.
The goal of night shopping isn’t just to drive sales but to create emotional connections and interactions with the surrounding community in an approachable setting. Commercial spaces are transforming into immersive, trendy lifestyle venues that not only satisfy the need for novelty but also provide young entrepreneurs with an efficient platform to test their businesses and gather market insights in key business districts.
Thanks to supportive policies, the night time economy has evolved from a fragmented street market scene into a thriving fashion and consumer market. The fashionable lifestyle under the night sky has reshaped consumption from a single-format model into a more dynamic and integrated approach, embracing industry diversity and expanding across various retail stages.
