Every August Chinese people celebrate the Chinese love festival QiXi. It is based on the mythological romance of the cowherd and weaver maid. Due to its romantic nature, Qixi Festival is known colloquially as “Chinese Valentine’s Day.” And is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar.
In China, what began as innocent gestures of love — much in the way Singles’ Day was at first celebrated by college students — has now been transformed into a massive shopping festival. Yet the competition is stronger than ever before for foreign brands participating in these holiday sale events.
The modern celebration of this festival has been influenced by western Valentine’s Day traditions. Couples often celebrate in the most romantic ways – roses, chocolates, jewelry, and handbags are some of the preferred gifts. Data provided by Chinese domestic online shopping mall site Tmall.com shows that the day before the Qixi Festival in 2018, over 120,000 handbags were sold online within 24 hours.
Gift trends and imported brands
In recent years there has been an increase in buying imported brands. Apart from the ever-green flowers, the most purchased imported products are chocolate and wine, and often mixed gift boxes with both sent out online as a surprise. Most brands launch special promotions and editions for Valentine’s Day. This makes the beautiful chocolate and wine boxes and baskets even more special gifts to be given to that special one.
It’s a holiday that definitely shouldn’t be missed as an opportunity for brand owners to boost their brand awareness and sales volumes through online channels. If you would like to explore more about the opportunities in China and cross-border e-commerce, feel free to contact us at info@brand.house