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又好像没过多久，一线城市的年轻人们又说茶杯里泡的是枸杞，吃的是街头巷尾的沙县拉面鸡米饭，用的手机摔烂了屏也没换，上面还下载了拼多多。
这种忽穷忽富的魔幻现实感。有外媒报道说：
Chinese consumers are increasingly engaged in buying overseas imported products through online channels, and it has been widely interpreted as a sign of consumption upgrade happening in China. Amid discussion of the Chinese online consumers, the phenomenal popularity of Pin Duo Duo, a social e-commerce known for unbelievable low price and bargain, drives people to question the real purchase power of Chinese consumers. (Azoya)
中国消费者越来越喜欢网购海淘进口商品，这一现象也常被解释成消费升级的表现。就在关于中国线上消费者的讨论中，社交电商拼多多凭借超低价格的商品迅速蹿红，这也催生了对于中国消费者真实购买力的质疑。
The 'consumption downgrade' argument, boasted by media from newspapers to WeChat official accounts, says that Chinese customers are less willing to pay for over-priced products. Pin Duo Duo (PDD), a mash-up of social and e-commerce, amassed over 200 million users within 2 years, was labeled as the leader of 'consumption downgrade'. (Azoya)
“消费降级”的论调老是被纸媒和微信公号提起，说是中国消费者们越来越不愿意为价格过高的产品买单。社交电商拼多多在短短的前两年发展时间内就聚集了2亿用户，它也被当做是“消费降级”的先锋。
拼多多被说成是消费降级的源头。
但消费降级真的意味着消费者们在产品质量上的妥协吗？
Sorgem Advance在文章中提到：
While the consumption upgrading in China – people are looking for high-end products of premium quality, consumption downgrade is happening at the same time. It is about looking for
the most reasonable price, paying for the most appropriate product, spending rationally, and living smartly
.
中国的消费升级——人们追逐质量过硬的高端产品——如火如荼之时，消费降级也在同步发生。消费者们寻求的是最合理的价格，
最合适的产品，理性消费，聪明生活
。
This evolution is especially evident among 2 groups within the population: young consumers with limited financial resources and utility-driven consumers living outside the 1st tier cities. These people tend to buy cellphones from the domestic brand Xiao Mi (小米) with only 1/3 of the price of an iPhone, workout using training APPs such as Keep instead of paying for a personal trainer in an actual gym, and use group shopping APPs such as Pin Duo Duo to get a good bargain by joining more people they know into buying the same product.
这场演变在两大群体上尤为明显：一是财务资源上受限的年轻消费者，二是一线城市之外的那些实用至上的消费者。这些人倾向于购买国产品牌的手机，像是小米的手机就只有一台iPhone价格的三分之一；健身锻炼就会用Keep这样的应用，而通常不会去健身房请私教；他们可能还会用拼多多之类的拼团应用团购商品，人越多折扣越好。
