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In-store promotion: "spend 99 yuan get 60 yuan back". |
In Shanghai, which is said to be a bellwether of fashion in China, non-stop sales promotions from year-end through the first three days of the New Year have been a long time seasonal characteristic across different shopping districts.
Cross-year campaigns staged at the end of 2011 were spearheaded by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce and achieved excellent results.
On the last day of the year, department stores extended their opening hours to the following day.
The single largest retail store in the city, Shanghai No 1 Yaohan, started its sales from 8 am on 31 December. The 18-hour business day on New Year's Eve of previous years became a three-day mega marathon and sales revenues exceeded Rmb480 million, more than any other city retailer.
Over at the Orient Shopping Centre (including the Huaihai store), in the Bailian Xijiao Shopping Mall, in the Bailian Youyicheng Shopping Mall, the Super Brand Mall and in the New World Department Store business hours were likewise extended on 31 December to the following day.
Other major shopping districts and outlets selling household appliances followed suit, offering discounts and staging performances to welcome in the New Year. All retailers reported higher sales.
With merchants making the most of festivals on a more frequent basis, the traditional peak season for sales has advanced from the end of December.
Just one month after online seller tmall.com successfully launched its super sales programme and posted Rmb3.3 billion in transactions over a 24-hour period on "Double Eleven" (11 November or Chinese Bachelors' Day), taobao.com staged another crazy sales campaign for the "Double Twelve" (on 12 December).
According to the information posted by Taobao on its weibo microblog, transactions were worth Rmb4.3 billion on 12 December.
It is apparent that the level of discounting is the major concern of shoppers. That said, merchants still need to be more focused during recurrent sales promotion campaigns.
Sales at physical stores and online stores should be linked "organically", according to marketing experts. Otherwise, the danger is that consumers will demand ever-steeper discounts.
from Kelly Dai, Shanghai Office
(Image courtesy of Xinhua News Agency)
