Double Five shopping season attracts Shanghai consumers
May 12, 2020 Category Retail, Weekly
After the Double Five shopping season was launched in Shanghai on May 5, combined retail sales reached CNY15.68 billion exactly 24 hours after the launch of the event. Imported goods fairs and various promotional campaigns were staged by the city’s domestic and foreign retailers, while online discounts were sought after by shoppers as consumption sentiment built up during the Labor Day holiday. Metro China’s spring sales fair includes 500 types of imported goods from more than 30 countries and regions. Wumei Group President and Chairman of Metro Hong Kong Holdings Xu Ying said it will support Metro’s digitalization efforts to cater to local trends. Wumei Group has an 80% stake in Metro China after completing a €1 billion takeover in April. More than 3,500 types of Metro’s home items will be included in the city’s shopping season, which ends in June. Top retailers like Walmart, Muji, H&M, Starbucks and Lyfen were also using WeChat payment’s mini program to give away coupons worth a total of CNY2 billion.
Five-time Olympic Games champion diver Wu Minxia, a Shanghai native, was joined by top Taobao live host Li Jiaqi at the launch event for a live-streaming session to sell local products. The duo attracted more than 3 million viewers in 20 minutes and promoted famous brands like Maling canned pork luncheon meat, Bright Diary milk and Shanghai Jahwa’s personal care items. Taobao live hosts and merchants held more than 10,000 livestreams to help sell to consumers nationwide. Multinational companies like Nike, Adidas, Lancome and local brands such as Dr Yu, HotWind and Shuixing Home Textile were among top-selling brands on Alibaba’s Tmall.
At Alibaba’s Freshippo stores in Shanghai, sales in the first three days of the Labor Day holiday were 40% higher than daily average sales in April. Local online construction and interior design firm Qeeka said its promotional season, which started in late April, has helped connect decoration firms and consumers through digital means and integrated sales promotions for furniture and kitchenware. Some consumers prefer online stores to avoid large crowds.
Suning Carrefour Chief Operation Officer Zhang Qizhe said sales at Carrefour’s Shanghai stores have returned to normal levels from a year ago since April and the delivery business is also picking up steadily. Dingdong Maicai, a local online fresh food vendor, said since the Labor Day holiday average daily sales in Shanghai climbed 40% from normal days to about CNY30 million. In Shanghai, it now serves around 6 million households, doubling its user base before the coronavirus epidemic outbreak. It has also offered online cooking tutorials to help shoppers select ingredients, the Shanghai Daily reports.
As an important part of the two-month Double Five Shopping Festival in Shanghai, the 2020 Shanghai Imported Goods Festival was also launched. More than 500 offline stores and over 40 online platforms are participating in the festival, including platforms offering the “6+365 days” exhibition and trading services such as Greenland Global Community Trading Hub, Hongqiao Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center, and ymatou.com. The third China International Import Expo in November has so far attracted 1,300 foreign exhibitors, covering 75% of the overall planned exhibition area, according to Sun Chenghai, Deputy Director of the China International Import Expo Bureau. The company said that a number of overseas brands will join the Suning Global platform during the shopping festival, while more international brands are also in discussion with Suning Global to open official flagship stores on the platform. The online flagship store of Laox, Japan’s biggest duty free store, launched an exclusive Double Five Shopping Festival zone for Shanghai consumers. It offers 50% discounts on a variety of goods, said Fu Luyong, Managing Director of Laox China. Carrefour will organize a “global food season” activity in Shanghai, offering food and beverages from 39 countries and regions, including over 3,700 imported food products from nearly 350 brands and more than 200 imported wines from over 70 brands from around the world.
Online spending surged during the Labor Day holiday. China UnionPay said total transactions over the five-day holiday period reached CNY1.57 trillion, up 7.7% compared with the three-day Qingming Festival break in early April and 16% higher than the average weekend spending in April. Shanghai retail conglomerate Bailian Group said sales between April 26 and May 3 had reached CNY1.92 billion, with CNY290 million coming from digital shops, the Shanghai Daily reports. WeChat’s total offline payment volume during the holiday picked up 30% from a month ago with the fastest growing segments including entertainment, dining and retail.
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