Market opportunities brought by the legalization of homosexuality in the United States: O2O and wearables

On June 26, nine judges of the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5:4 to recognize the legality of same-sex marriage throughout the United States. This ruling made the United States a good friend of Canada and Mexico, and together they made North America the only continent on earth that recognizes the legality of same-sex marriage. As the 21st country in the world to fully recognize the legality of same-sex marriage, the implementation of this bill in the United States has caused a great discussion around the world, and the focus of the discussion is nothing more than two aspects: one is the debate on social ethics and morality, and the other is the discussion of business opportunities.

Small LGBT community brings big market

Today, let's not discuss the social ethics and moral issues, but look at the business opportunities that this bill will bring from a business perspective. This may be more important and more direct for the current social reality of "entrepreneurship and innovation by all people". According to statistics in Li Yinhe's article "Focus on Gay Rights", "homosexuals in the Netherlands account for 6% of the population, which is slightly higher than Kinsey's survey of American society (4%) and slightly lower than the British survey (homosexuals and bisexuals each account for 4%, a total of 8%)." And using a more conservative estimate of 5%, China's LGBT population is also more than 70 million, which is more than the total population of a large European country.

Although the number of homosexuals is still a small group in the whole society, they have high commercial value in the consumer market. According to the research of LGBT Capital, the top three LGBT markets in the world are: Europe with 870 billion US dollars, the United States with 750 billion US dollars, and China with 300 billion US dollars. In addition, according to the survey data of CMI in the United States, for every US dollar invested in the LGBT community, the business will get a return of 180 US dollars; for every US$158 spent by heterosexuals, the amount spent by homosexuals will reach 878 US dollars, a difference of 4 to 5 times.

From this set of data, we can capture a very important piece of information, that is, the average consumption capacity of the homosexual group is much higher than that of the general heterosexual group. As social tolerance continues to increase, the population of this group will show an upward trend, and the market space it releases will also become larger.

Where are the business opportunities targeting LGBT people?

The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States further reflects the global trend of tolerance for homosexuality, but it is still difficult for homosexuality to be completely open in real life, and its various exclusive commercial services are relatively lagging behind heterosexuality.

In the past, more homosexuals looked for "lovers" in offline places, such as bars and discos; of course, "toilet culture" is also an indispensable way in the history of the development of homosexuality, that is, leaving relevant information in the toilet in order to find a "lover".

With the advent of the Internet, especially the arrival of mobile Internet, the "social" methods of this special group have been extended; and with the help of some social tools on the Internet, they can often obtain relevant information better. Of course, compared with the purely offline behavior in the past, in the virtual world of the Internet, the privacy of users will be relatively better protected, and with the help of the Internet, they can achieve better "like-mindedness" in the virtual world.

Just as the Internet has influenced this era, it has also influenced the gay community. Therefore, in this Internet era, along with the legalization of homosexuality, some new business opportunities will inevitably be released, mainly in the following two aspects:

1. Regional O2O social model

The Internet can be said to have filled the gap in the social life of homosexuals to a certain extent, and can better meet the strong social needs of homosexuals. Perhaps it is precisely because of this factor that a large number of social applications have appeared in the domestic gay market, including Gyou, Aloha, The One, The L, Zuozuo, GayPark, etc.; there are even some more niche social products for lesbians, such as Pinkd, Laven, Wulala, LesPark, etc. There are currently dozens of them, and it can be said that they will soon enter the stage of bayonet competition.

In Genge's opinion, a large number of these gay social products will die in the near future. There are two reasons for this: first, the current growth rate of the gay population in China is much lower than the growth rate of these social products that provide services for gays; second, most gay social products are highly homogenized and have no characteristics. So, for the developers of such products, or some entrepreneurs who are preparing to enter the field of gay social networking, are there still opportunities? If so, where are the opportunities?

Genge believes that the market opportunities for gay social products are still huge, and the regional O2O model will be one direction.

The so-called regional O2O model is similar to the current regional local website model, which only focuses on local matters and only serves local customers, and then completely connects online and offline activities and services. In other words, it is aimed at regional and localized, creating an online and offline interactive gay social model. Offline, it can rely on bars, coffee shops and the like, and then online rely on offline platforms to extend social platforms, taking the niche market as the entry point, which may be a way out and trend at present.

For example, we developed an APP product for Nanjing gay tribe. The service target is very clear, which is limited to gay people living in Nanjing, or some people who have just come to Nanjing to work and have not found like-minded people in Nanjing. On the one hand, it provides online dating and other consumer services, such as helping to book hotels and gifts; on the other hand, it opens up offline services in Nanjing, such as bars, hotels, coffee shops, sex toy stores, etc. In a word, it provides a convenient one-stop service for gays.

Some people may ask, aren't there so many large-scale gay social tools that can do this? If it is in the mass market, I think it can be tried, but in this niche market, relying on venture capital to open up a localized O2O model in China is not enough, and even if it is burned, it is unknown when it can be recovered from gays; more importantly, it is difficult to provide localized services in this niche market.

2. New opportunities for smart wearable products

Homosexuality, whether it is innate or acquired, is difficult to reverse. This means that once they accept the service of a product, they are likely to become lifelong users with extremely high stickiness. Moreover, most homosexuals do not have their own families, and even if they have, they do not have children, so their economic burden is much smaller than that of ordinary people. In addition, these groups are easily discriminated against and marginalized. Therefore, they need to prove their worth with better careers and better incomes, and they have a greater desire to consume. In addition, this group of people is more dependent on the Internet than ordinary people, and they have a stronger impulse to try and buy some cutting-edge technology products, making it easier to become a huge potential market segment in the field of smart wearables.

For example, sex toys designed specifically for gays have a stronger market demand than current sports and fitness bracelets. To meet the emotional needs of gays, we can launch some targeted smart hardware products, such as smart bracelets and pendants, to promote emotional communication between gays. Or, we can launch some smart toys for people with special preferences to fill in some gaps in their normal lives, which is also a good potential market. Of course, some smart decorative products for this group of people are also a good market. In addition, it would be a good opportunity to launch a special gay shopping website for these people.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.