The Ultimate Guide to China’s Shopping Festivals
Photo by Jordan Nix at Unsplash.
We round up the biggest shopping festivals in China, and how your band can capitalise on them
Any brand considering entering the Chinese market knows this: shopping is Big Business in China. The country is experiencing a year-round boom in e-commerce in particular, but it’s also home to a host of shopping festivals that make even China’s usual mind-boggling e-commerce figures pale in comparison. Its shopping festivals are even considered a key indicator of China’s economic health.
Why? Chinese shoppers respond strongly to sales and special promotions – even more so than their Western counterparts. It follows then that shopping festivals are an exciting prospect for international brands wanting to achieve increased sales, gain brand recognition and market themselves towards Chinese consumers.
So which are the biggest China’s shopping festivals – and what opportunities do they represent for your brand?
Chinese New Year aka Spring Festival aka Nian Huo
1st February, 2022, the Year of the Tiger
Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is one of the biggest occasions of the year in China – akin perhaps to Christmas in the UK and Europe. In true Chinese fashion, the annual celebration isn’t just cause for celebratory dinners with friends and family and festive parties, but also a boom in commerce. In 2020 and 2021 more than ever, this was reflected in online sales, due to COVID-19 restrictions. It’s a trend that’s expected to continue post-pandemic though, in line with China’s shift towards e-commerce.
Read more: 12 Reasons Your Business Should Prioritise a Move into China
The exact dates of the festival vary because it begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between January 21 and February 20. Festivities last until the following full moon and most people in China are given seven consecutive days off work as part of the celebrations. This can obviously wreak havoc on supply chains, so bear this in mind when planning shipping to your Chinese customers.
This festival is focussed on family, but as well as gatherings both in-person and online, clearly Chinese consumers spend a lot of their week’s break shopping. In 2019, the festival generated over $155 million in retail sales, and in 2020, the sales of imported goods increased by 2.3%, year on year.
Gifting is big, and sales of food and alcohol increase during this time, with more than half of Chinese consumers reporting that they’d make these purchases online, according to Statista.
Marketing-wise, as well as being all about family, Chinese New Year also has an animal element – 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. Savvy brands will embrace these elements in their social media marketing in the lead up to the festival.
520 aka I Love You Day
20th May
Photo by Renee Fisher at Unsplash.
There’s a simple explanation behind the naming of 520 Day. In Mandarin, the pronunciation of ‘520’ sounds similar to ‘I love you’ – so 520 Day on the 20th of May is often considered a second, unofficial Valentine’s Day in China.
It’s evolved to become one of China’s top shopping festivals, particularly for luxury goods, and, not surprisingly, particularly those in fashion and jewellery. It’s so popular that international brands consider it an “integral part of their China-centric sales strategy”.
In fact, according to Vogue Business research, more brands took part in 520 celebrations than Valentine’s Day celebrations in 2021, marking a shift towards China’s digital day of love.
Brands looking to capitalise on 520 Day should consider its roots when promoting their involvement. The origin of 520 can be traced back to China’s unique cyber culture and therefore its younger generation is most active in celebrating it.
618
18th June
Many consider 520 Day to be a warm-up for 618. Considered one of the biggest retail events in the world, the 618 shopping festival generated a huge $2.38 trillion in 2020, from over 26 billion transactions – up 42%, year-on-year.
What began as a one-day festival in 2004 has morphed into a weeks-long extravaganza, with promotions starting as early as 1 June and extending beyond 18 June.
Sales are shared across a range of sectors, with food and beverages, mum and baby products and beauty considered the top three categories. A growing sector though is medical and healthcare, with e-commerce site JD.com citing a 173% growth in sales in this sector in 2020. This is particularly exciting news for British brands, whose quality and high safety standards make them an attractive option for Chinese consumers looking to buy in medical and healthcare products.
Read more: How UK Retailers Can Capitalise on China’s Demand For ‘Brand Britain’
While many consumers use festivals like 618 to save money on high-value purchases, it is also a popular time to stock up on daily necessities and household goods, according to the China-Britain Business Council.
Interestingly, 618 has wide appeal across a range of demographics. Not only are sales split almost evenly between male and female shoppers, but age brackets as well. Statista data shows that about 22% of online buyers were between 26 and 30 years old, while around 16.3% were above 40 years old.
Double 11 aka Singles Day
11th November
Photo by Content Pixie at Unsplash.
The heavyweight champion of shopping festivals, Singles Day is a huge event in the Chinese calendar. It’s so big that it’s not just a huge shopping event, but an event in its own right. Top e-commerce sites Alibaba and JD.com reportedly generated $155 billion in sales during the festival period from the 1st until the 11th of November 2020.
According to Statista:
In 2019, around 660 million online shoppers participated in this mega shopping carnival, roughly double the United States’ population. Chinese e-marketers recorded a gross merchandise value of 600 billion yuan in 24 hours, almost equal to eBay’s annual GMV. The shopping festival is spectacular, and the icing on the cake is Tmall’s All-Star Gala on November 10, the night before the event starts. From home and abroad, celebrities were invited to this satellite show, including Taylor Swift, David Beckham, and Mariah Carey. The four-and-half hour countdown show opened the curtain for a 24-hour non-stop shopping event.
Fittingly, Singles Day has also grown globally, too. The UK has the highest Singles Day sales in Europe, with sales of almost £1.5 billion in 2020, an increase of £1.29 in 2019.
The key driver in sales during this shopping festival is discounts. The categories with the biggest price cuts were not only among the best sellers, but they also succeeded in driving additional market share. For example, according to McKinsey, parent and baby products, with an average discount of 33%, captured 18 to 19% of category sales in China, versus 6 to 7% on a normal day. Skin-care and cosmetics brands, with an average price cut of 30%, boosted their share to 12 to 15%, up from the usual 3 to 5%.
Double 12 aka 12.12
12th December
The 12.12 or Double 12 Shopping Festival on the 12th of December was launched by Alibaba in 2010 for customers who were still hungry for deals after Singles Day. It’s a great festival for attracting Christmas shoppers, although sales are not as impressive as on Double 11.
That said, JD.com reported a 10% year-on-year growth in live stream sales during 12.12 2020, and beauty sales on Pinduoduo increased by a huge 310%.
Back in 2015, 12.12 garnered significant attention in China with its promise of 50% off millions of items when bought with the mobile payment system Alipay. Fast-forward to today and the majority of sales are completed this way.
Read more: WeChat Pay and Alipay, China’s biggest payment platforms: Explained
This festival is not only experiencing exciting year-on-year growth, but it should be of particular interest to smaller retailers. It’s considered to favour small- to mid-sized brands and can act as a useful tool in testing the market. According to Forbes:
“For the brands, 12.12 allows them to overshoot on 11.11 in terms of inventory and experimentation, with the knowledge that 12.12 can be used to absorb any surplus and keep any successful experiments in play. In other words, 12.12 gives you a longer tail to your sales curve with enough of a breather to allow you to adjust for market conditions.”
Ready to develop your brand’s marketing approach to best capture sales during China’s biggest shopping festivals? We can help.