Interest Is Business: China’s 2025 “Interest-Led” E-commerce Boom

How four fast-moving clusters are reshaping demand across sports, collectibles, creation tools, and lifestyle consumption

China’s consumers are back in “add-on value” mode, spending not only on necessity, but on the things that make life feel richer, more expressive, and more shareable. In 2025 Q1–Q3, interest-led consumption across four major clusters rose from RMB 350.9BN to RMB 385.2BN, while mainstream e-commerce platforms recorded double-digit overall growth, signalling a broader return of confidence. The most telling shift is not just higher spending, it is a behavioural upgrade: people are increasingly buying interests that can be turned into content, moving from “I enjoy it” to “I show it”.

Source: Nint Production

Cluster 1: Sport & Health — Growth is modest, but the mix is changing fast

Sport & health remains a sizeable interest economy, edging up from RMB 77.6bn to RMB 80.6bn in 2025 Q1–Q3. Ball sports are the new breakout. Among the three mainstream sub-tracks (outdoor, indoor, ball sports), ball sports posted the strongest lift while outdoor softened and indoor grew mildly.

Indoor (steady growth, new drivers):

• Indoor sports grew mildly ( +4%), with yoga as the clearest growth driver (17%), followed by sports protection/gear (+14%)

• Equipment is shifting to small, home-friendly formats (upper-body tools, wearables), with EMS microcurrent wearables gaining attention.

• Indoor archery stood out with near-doubling performance, showing “newness + shareability” still creates upside.

Outdoors (rebalancing, not disappearing):

• Outdoor softened slightly ( -3%): Cycling is cooling sharply (-24%), while outdoor goods are rising (+10%), consistent with camping re-lifting (tents +5%, outdoor sleep +32%).

• Growth concentrates in functional “upgrade” tracks—rock/ice climbing, and hiking add-ons like trekking poles, rather than broad lifestyle baskets.

  
  

Source: Nint Production

Ball sports (the breakout):

• Ball sports posted the strongest lift ( +29%), driven by social play, repeatable sessions, and content-friendly participation.

• Badminton (+44%), is still the largest, but billiards ( +65%) is surging and challenging it .

• Pickleball is spiking this year, though long-term sustainability is uncertain; squash is worth watching (~35%) with a curve the report compares to pickleball’s early trajectory.

• Notable signals: baseball saw an +81% surge, indicating rapid momentum and an emerging growth pocket within ball sports.

Sport growth is being shaped by formats that lower friction and increase repeatability. The winners are not necessarily the biggest equipment, rather they are products that fit into weekly routines, support social participation, and translate well into short-form content.

Cluster 2: Entertainment & Collecting — A high-speed market powered by IP, drops, and community

Entertainment & collecting is one of the clearest growth engines in the report, rising from RMB 41.4BN to RMB 51.8BN in 2025 Q1–Q3, delivering a standout more than 25% uplift. Even more importantly, average transaction values increased across categories, signalling that this is not only volume growth, it is also premiumisation.

Anime/IP merchandise (“漫游周边”):

• Largest shares of total spend, nearly 60%

• Overall ~+8% YoY growth; within it, anime-related subcategories are highlighted at ~+43%

  
  

Toys, figurines & trendy collectibles:

• Fastest-growing major bucket at ~+66% YoY

• Blind boxes/cards lead the surge (盲盒卡牌 +88%), lifting adjacent “scene” categories (场景道具 +359%)

• New growth lanes emerging:

  • Artist toys surged by 65%

  • Adult-oriented sub-segments surged by400%

  • Online “draw-box” mechanics surged by 140%

  • EDC toys (everyday-carry novelty) growing from a zero base into meaningful RMB 26M

    
    

Source: Nint Production

“Three pits” subculture (Lolita / JK-DK / Hanfu):

• Lolita leads, surpassing RMB 1bn with both price and volume growth

• Style mix signals broader wearability:

  • “Sweet style” ~29.54% (largest share)

  • “Daily style” ~12.53% (meaningful share)

• Takeaway: Lolita is becoming more everyday wearable, expanding beyond niche circles

This cluster is the playbook for community economics. Demand is driven by drop rhythm, storytelling, and identity signalling. Brands that win understand how to create repeat excitement while maintaining the authenticity communities will defend.

Cluster 3: Creation and Art — “Low learning cost, high sense of achievement” wins

Creation and art grew from RMB 25.6BN to RMB 31.4BN in 2025 Q1–Q3, a strong ~23% increase, but it is also the most polarised cluster. The report’s conclusion is sharp: consumers increasingly choose projects that feel easy to start and rewarding to show, and “life quick recording” has become a dominant direction.

Photography leads the creator toolkit:

• Sales increased by 47% YoY, with average transaction value edging up (~ RMB 1,548 → 1,636), driven by “real-time recording” demand.

• A key category reached RMB 1.6BN sales on ~790K units, with several-fold YoY growth in both sales and volume.

• DSLR “fever” is cooling; demand is moving to action cameras, pocket gimbals, thumb cameras, and handheld stabilisers built for capture + share.

Handicrafts: micro-tracks surge, but competition intensifies:

• Puzzles are accelerating: standard puzzles RMB 230m (+83%), 3D puzzles RMB 80m (+126%), metal puzzles RMB 40m (+137%).

• Perler beads (拼豆) spiked sharply from a small base, alongside rising brand (+600%) and store counts (+1380%).

• Low barriers are pulling in entrants fast, raising the risk of category shake-outs as supply expands.

Source: Nint Production

Traditional art supplies face AI-driven pressure:

• The report flags the AI creation wave (e.g., AI celebrity photos, AI figures, “everything becomes plush” trends).

• AI may reduce incremental demand in some drawing tracks, while also creating new behaviours like “AI verification” and new content formats.

The “creator economy” is no longer niche, it is mainstream retail logic. Tools that simplify production, improve results quickly, and integrate naturally into content workflows can scale fast.

Cluster 4: Lifestyle and Food — Scale-first, habit-driven

Lifestyle and food are the largest cluster by far, rising from RMB 206.3BN to RMB 221.2BN in 2025 Q1–Q3 (about +7%). It is less “spiky” than the other clusters, but its scale makes even modest growth strategically meaningful.

Source: Nint Production

Two tracks are in a smooth upward phase: cooking/baking and pet/gardening, both showing clear positive momentum. The report also calls out “prepared food” as a long-running focal point for brands, suggesting it remains a contested battlefield shaping how consumers return to the kitchen.

Cooking and baking— kitchen small appliances: “new black horses” keep emerging

• kitchen small appliances continued to throw up fast-growing winners (RMB 10m+ subcategories growing 15%+), notably fruit & vegetable disinfecting/washing machines.

• This signals a shift from buying only ingredients to buying cleaner, easier, more controlled cooking processes.

Tea / coffee / alcohol — stable volumes, shifting equipment logic:

• Overall beverage categories are broadly stable (0% YoY), but spend is rotating within tools/equipment.

• Tea sets fell (-28%), while more convenience-led teaware grew (飘逸杯 +29%).

• Coffee sets rose strongly (+46%), consistent with an “equipment-first” consumption pattern.

• White liquor AOV fell (-26%), indicating softer premiumisation in parts of alcohol.

• Convenience is emerging as a key growth lever for tea accessories, while coffee gear continues to benefit from a “ritual” narrative, with related items sustaining steady growth.

Pet and gardening — companionship as demand engine:

• Anchored in “biological companionship”: cats and dogs remain core.

• Gardening shows growing interest in unusual plants, including “emotion plants” and smart growing devices.

Lifestyle growth is increasingly built on rituals (coffee equipment, home cooking systems), comfort upgrades (kitchen efficiency, cleanliness), and emotional replacement (pets and plants as companionship). This is where brands can win long-term share through habit formation, repeat purchase, and ecosystem selling, not just one-off hero products.

What Brands Should Do Next?

1. Design for “output”, not just ownership Build products that help users create, record, showcase, or improve quickly—because the fastest-growing hobbies are those that generate shareable results.

   
   

2. Lower the entry barrier with starter kits and guided bundles Bundle tools + consumables + simple instructions. “First purchase success” is what turns curiosity into repeat buying.

   
   

3. Build drop cadence and scarcity mechanics where community drives value In collectibles, toys, and subculture fashion, momentum comes from rhythm: limited drops, themed series, and collaboration arcs.

   
   

4. Seed creators with “how-to” content, not just product shots Short video is the conversion engine—prioritise tutorials, before/after outcomes, and problem-solving demos.

   
   

5. Turn offline participation into online conversion loops For ball sports, crafts, pets, and community hobbies: local events, clubs, workshops, and meetups create spikes that e-commerce can capture.

   
   

6. Win retention with subscriptions and replenishment Pet, kitchen, craft consumables, and hobby maintenance products are ideal for memberships, refills, and “auto-replenish” value packs.

   
   

7. Segment by motivation, not demographics Target “newbies vs advanced”, “collector vs practical user”, “social player vs solo optimiser”—the same age group buys for totally different reasons.

China’s 2025 interest-category rebound is not just a consumption story, it is a behaviour shift. As consumers re-invest in hobbies, they are buying more than products: they are buying identity, expression, and outcomes. Brands that design for participation and build around communities will be best placed to convert interest into long-term customer value.

Reach out to us if you are a brand looking to turn these four clusters into a clear category strategy in China’s interest-driven e-commerce.