With macro uncertainties, it looks like global consumers are focusing more on small items purchases.
In China, happiness starts with $1.
1/ coffee chain Luckin grew 88% in revenue yoy, and has over 10k store now.
For $2 per cup, if people get it every workday, it’s only $40 per month.
There are additional promotions: with $3 membership card/month, coffee can be almost half priced. $1.5 x 20 + $3 => $33 per month.
2/ mobile gaming (mostly micro transactions) market grew most 60% in 2023 summer. See previous post.
for $30-40, you can get a decent new skin on HoK or Justice Mobile. Some skins are as low as $1.
Globally, $20 per month can also buy lot of happiness.
3/ Netflix added 9mn subscribers in 2023q3 and is going to raise price again in the US. After 3 years, 50mn+ more subscribers joined Neflix, vs 2020q3, when the initial covid impact calmed down (2020q3 added 2.2mn vs. 2020H1 added 26mn).
After raising price, it’s only $23 per month.
4/ OpenAI, whose ChaGPT, although a productivity tool, is mostly paid by consumers with $20 per month plan. It has over $100mn revenue per month now, or 4-5mn subscribers, assuming most revenue is from subscriptions.
5/ Midjourney subreddit members grew to almost 1mn. Midjourney entry-level (Basic) plan is $10 per month. It’s reported that its 2023 revenue is over $200mn. Midjourney might have ~2nm subscribers by year end ($24-30mn revenue run rate).