The growing number of single people in China has led to the creation of the "lonely economy," providing business opportunities for retailers and service providers offering personalized products and services for one person. Many business models catering to single people are springing up in metropolises such as Shanghai. From restaurants and supermarkets, to karaoke and home appliances, both retailers and services providers are launching products and services tailored for solo consumers. A Japanese style roast-eel-with-rice restaurant on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai is a typical example. Although the restaurant only sells one kind of roast eel set meal, that has not stopped it from becoming famous online and a hit with solo diners. According to Weng Wenying, manager of the restaurant, before it sold roast eel, the restaurant used to be a sushi bar. When the restaurant's business expanded and the owner opened more branches with more spacious dining areas around Shanghai, the branch on Yuyuan Road gave up selling sushi. "The owner of the restaurant had spent many years in Japan where solo dining is quite common, so she thought of changing the sushi shop into a solo-dining restaurant," Weng said. Singletons spend more According to a recent report, a survey shows 57.69 percent of single people will spend money to dispel loneliness and only 15.68 percent are unwilling to do so. Another survey shows that 75 percent of single people will spend at least 1,000 yuan per month to dispel loneliness. According to an economic analysis report issued by Sinolink Securities, most single young people have not reached the stage where they are buying properties or vehicles, so they have little concept of saving. Contrary to expectation, single adults prefer not to spend time with other single friends, but would rather spend their spare time alone. New business opportunities While single people don't appear to want to spend time with each other, many of them like to keep pets for company. According to the Sinolink Securities report, more than 70 percent of young people born in the 1980s and 1990s keep pets. Most of these young people are single, and see pets as their family. Ding, a 40-year-old single woman, has been raising two pet cats for many years. Usually, she spends her weekends playing with her cats or taking them to the pet grooming shop. Her spending on her pets makes up a large part of her daily expenditure. With a growing population that lives alone in China, people's consumption habits have become more personalized, private and geared toward convenience and pleasing themselves. As a result, products and services catering to single people such as mini home appliances, shared KTV and mini gyms are emerging as new business models aiming to attract single adults. While some of them may have good prospects, others may not. Take karaoke service providers, shared mini KTVs and mobile karaoke apps for example. Qin, who is 40 and single, says he would not use shared KTV to kill time even if he feels lonely. "Singing karaoke should be a group activity, in my mind. Singing alone at the mini KTV in a shopping mall would feel awkward. If I do want to sing alone, I would rather use a karaoke mobile app, which is more convenient and economical," Qin said.