City government launches shopping festival

Ti Gong

The Shanghai government launched a city-wide shopping season on Monday with a number of online and offline promotional activities.

Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang, along with Deputy Party Secretary and Acting Mayor Gong Zheng, attended the launch ceremony with 20 executives from multinationals and local retailers including Bailian Group, Suning, Ctrip, L'Oreal, Meituan Dianping, China UnionPay and Tesla.

Shanghai is widely considered a shopping paradise and a top-notch destination for purchases, Gong said.

"Consumption is a strong propeller and accelerator for high-quality development and we will expedite the construction of the city as a world-level shopping and consumption destination," he said.

Shanghai has been sticking to its opening-up policy for decades while a multi-centered and multi-layered commercial network had come into shape, he said.

Shanghai has remained the top city in terms of total retail sales of consumer goods and is home to numerous famous cross-border retailers and high-end brands.

Last year, a total of 986 stores made their debut in Shanghai and the number of debut stores and flagship stores also ranked the first among domestic cities.

"We welcome investors and consumers to come here and to experience the vibrant city and its top-notch consumption environment," he said.

"We also encourage the latest technology and novel ideas to take root and bear fruit in the city. We expect them to become new engines for upgraded consumption," he said. 

It's of essential importance for Shanghai to stimulate consumption at this time of the coronavirus outbreak and to unleash consumption potential and boost consumer sentiment, he added.

Executives also took to the stage and promoted their discounts and sales campaigns and a four-hour special TV shopping program featuring major local online and offline businesses was held on the Oriental CJ channel on Monday evening.

Combined sales of online and offline channels surpassed 100 million yuan (US$14.07 million) in just six minutes after the event began at 8pm, according to data from China UnionPay, Alipay and WeChat.

The three-month shopping season aims to compensate for consumption losses and unleash further shopping demand, and it could also boost the city's influence as a top shopping destination.

A series of city and district level promotional activities as well as stimulus plans will be held, including new product launches featuring global brands such Louis Vuitton, Coach, Adidas and Dyson.

"We hope to expedite the introduction of new brands, new products, new business formats and new technologies in the city and to launch Asian and even world premier products for more innovative offerings here," said L'Oreal China President and CEO Fabrice Megarbane.

Meituan Dianping Vice President Mao Fang said spending in central business districts such as Xuhui District had returned to normal at the end of April and climbed even higher since the Labor Day holiday, which was a huge boost for spending on dining and entertainment. 

Ding Yining / SHINE