In autumn, people just want to have fun
Singles Day is nigh. Buzz is, the online shopping festival’s discount offers will extend the season’s fun.
But there’s also skepticism and a sense of deja vu. “Sellers first inflate the prices of unsold goods, offer hefty discounts, and then offer poor after-sales services and refunds.” That’s the constant refrain of consumers feeling hard done by.
Two factors could make this Nov 11 different though. New consumer courts will handle online shopping complaints. And the Big Three — Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu — that have been doing their own thing so far, appear to be eyeing online synergies.
In the run-up to the shopping festival, new groups on Tencent’s instant messaging app WeChat have sprung up where e-tailers on Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce platform present massive discount coupons with QR codes for various products. Many pals and I have found them utterly convenient and, well, addictive.
Tap, select “Scan QR Code in Image”, tap a few more buttons on the Taobao app, pay using a mobile wallet, and you’ve made a purchase in seconds.
I wonder if WeChat, with more than 800 million users, has found a way to become integral to the Alibabafounded shopping gala. Or, will this run-up exhaust shoppers well before Nov 11? Or, will it build such momentum that the event will smash all records for e-sales on a single day?
Perhaps, this win-win spirit stems from the joyful autumn — Oct 1 to Nov 15 is arguably the best part of the year in China. Just as it springs to life with a flourish in March and April, Nature unfurls a riot of colors and signs off with a kaleidoscopic bang for its winter hibernation.
Nature’s exuberance is infectious.
Gripped with a joie de vivre, thousands upon thousands descend on places such as Chengde in Hebei province, the former summer getaway of the Chinese royals; the Olympic arena in Beijing (which draws busloads of travelers on weekends for neon-lit night tours); various forest parks; and the Fragrant Hills, where autumn’s colors are a stunning sight to behold, especially when ascending in open cable cars.
When I posted an image on WeChat of the now ubiquitous maroon-green-yellow loveliness of a Beijing lane flanked by maple, X-mas and gingko trees, an MNC marketing whiz remarked it could well have been Califor- nia but for the overhead cables.
On a recent clear evening, the sprawling waterside lawns near the Olympic South Gate subway station hosted revelers who pitched colorful tents, with kids enjoying the various merrygo-round rides and musical fountains.
The zest for life was also evident at upscale malls at Xidan and Dawanglu, the tennis center’s courts during the China Open, the various cineplexes …
Talking of cineplexes, Hollywood flicks are drawing increasingly bigger Chinese audiences, with most “getting” the humor in real time ( Kingsman-2’ s caricatures of US southerner stereotypes generated several laughs). Either the subtitles are getting sharper or it must be the season — people just want to have fun.