Travel Retail Highlights: China
Spring Festival delivers soaring duty free sales in Hainan
Despite concerns over the impact of recent COVID-19 cases on travel in China, the key holiday period from 31 January to 6 February saw a surge in Hainan offshore duty free sales.
A series of high-profile promotional campaigns across the Hainan offshore duty free market, alongside continued strong consumer demand, helped propel sales during the recent Spring Festival to new heights. The news was first released by Hainan Hinews Media Co, The Moodie Davitt Report’s strategic partner in Hainan province. Sales at Hainan’s offshore duty free stores surged by +151% year-on-year during the holidays to CNY2.13 billion (US$333) million, according to the Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce. For the holiday period 31 January to 6 February, duty free sales alone grew by +156% to CNY1.94 billion (US$305 million), with the balance being generated by tax/duty paid sales. The number of shoppers rose by +138% year-on-year to 300,000 while the number of duty free items purchased grew by +157% to 1,815,800. Hainan Hinews’ popular New Hainan app (which boasts the world’s only online duty free channel and 3 million followers) reported that in the lead-up to this year’s Spring Festival, the Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce hosted a meeting of all the island’s duty free retailers to set annual sales targets and develop specific measures to promote New Year consumption.
Crowds continued to pour into China Duty Free Group’s Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay this week even after the official end of the holidays [All pictures courtesy of Mirko Wang, Jessica’s Secret, taken 8 February]
Marketing campaigns were launched during the holidays by CDFG (Good fortune & greater prosperity in the Year of the Tiger; 中免福气，如虎添翼); HTDF (CNY super deals for all; 新春福利大放送); GDF (Shopping experience as usual at GDF; GDF新春不打烊); CNSC (Good fortune in the Year of the Tiger from CNSC; 服虎送福); and TimesDF (Anniversary celebration: A thank-you message for choosing TimesDF; 一路前行 感恩有你; coupons worth more than CNY3,000 were distributed to each customer). To further promote the offshore duty free benefits and policies, with the support from the Big Data Administration of Hainan Province and other related government authorities, a dedicated offshore duty free section was created on the homepage of Hainan’s integrated service platform Haiyiban (海易办). This promoted the benefits of duty free shopping and acted as a channel for coupon collection. A total of 200,000+ duty free shopping coupons were distributed during the holidays.
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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 306 | 18 February 2022
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com