A golden opportunity for retailers
Stores are using Chinese New Year to push special promotions and propel sales
As shopping-driven holidays go, Chinese New Year can’t compete with Boxing Day or Black Friday.
But a growing number of retailers, particularly traditionally Westernoriented brands, have been seizing on Chinese New Year (CNY) as a golden opportunity to push promotions and propel sales.
“We’ve seen a lot of them jumping on the bandwagon,” says Marvi Yap, a partner at AV Communications, a firm that’s worked on CNY campaigns for BMW and BMO, among others. From big box value chains like Walmart and No Frills, to higherend shops such as Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen, Yap says retailers are recognizing CNY is a shopping extravaganza not to be missed.
On a recent trip to Yorkdale Shopping Centre, she noticed Chinese New Year-related marketing was far more “in your face” over previous years, with Canada Goose, Purdy’s, L’Occitane, Hudson’s Bay and Holts having “dominant” CNY messaging on display.
The outreach makes sense. Chinese-Canadians, a population of 1.6 million and growing, spend an estimated $50 billion each year on household expenditures, according to a 2013 report from Environics Analytics.
And as this expanding market’s tastes become increasingly globalized, Western brands are all the more appealing, particularly those that are higher-end.
Chinese-Canadians are happy to spend when the New Year rolls around, notes Niraj Sinha, managing partner with Maple Diversity Communications, which has created CNY campaigns for a variety of clients. “It’s a big festival, and people love to go out and shop. So if you’re a retailer and you don’t take it seriously, you’re missing the boat.”
Adidas didn’t miss it. It’s celebrating the Year of the Rooster with a one-off sneaker, the Ultra Boost 3.0, featuring a black and red design and a “CNY” logo on the tongue (unfortunately, they are not available in Canada). Meanwhile, Apple got into the CNY spirit by giving free Beats Solo3 wireless headphones to all customers who bought a Mac or iPhone in certain Asian markets earlier this month.
Chinese New Year has always been a shopping-focused event, explains Albert Yue, president and CEO of Dyversity Communications, a firm that specializes in multicultural marketing, particularly to ChineseCanadians. This year, it crafted CNY campaigns for Unilever/Knorr, OLG Lotteries, Pepsi, Lays, RBC, Tridel and Canada Post, which issued redand-gold-coloured commemorative stamps and coins.
CNY celebrations are centred around cultural history, tradition and family. “It’s about being done with the old, let’s get on with the new,” Yue says.
So it’s a time to buy new clothes and cosmetics, to clean and decorate one’s home, and to stock it with ample food and beverages for when guests drop by. It also means pur- chasing gifts for friends and relatives.
All of it represents a gold mine for retailers, hence why a growing complement of them are “capitalizing on this shopping bonanza,” according to Yue. “I’ve had my ad shop for 23 years, and it’s only in the past five or so years that Canadian companies have come to recognize the great potential of Chinese New Year, due to the significant market size.”
Chinese consumers appreciate seeing brands celebrate CNY with them, and it’s a good chance for retailers to build relationships and customer loyalties with this market, Sinha notes. But it’s not as simple as saying, “Gung Hey Fat Choy” (“Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year”) and the sales start flowing. The product or brand must have relevance to the holiday in its messaging.
Sinha’s firm created a campaign for Royale Tiger paper towel that encouraged consumers to “embrace life’s memorable messes,” such as the kind that come with CNY get-togethers. “You can’t have a celebration without a bit of mess. But Royale Tiger paper towel helps you to clean those up. So we said, ‘Let there be memorable messes.’ ”
BMW “bends over backwards” to create goodwill with its Chinese audience, Yap says. The car company does localized merchandising in dealerships that have high traffic from Chinese consumers. It also relaxes its corporate identity guidelines for ads to incorporate Chinese New Year themes (one print ad shows cherry blossoms flowing out of an open-doored sedan, set against a red backdrop). “BMW wants to resonate with the Chinese market, so the CNY ads are different from what they’d normally put out.”
Retailers courting the Chinese market should keep the focus on the idea of renewal, suggests Anna Maramba, Yap’s partner at AV Communications. “Chinese New Year is all about out with the old, in with the new. So it’s important to emphasize what’s new or coming this year.” (Maramba adds that quality is also key. According to IPG Mediabrands’ 2016 Multicultural Media Study, which surveyed 1,250 Chinese and South Asians in Toronto and Vancouver, 61 per cent of Chinese shoppers tend to buy on quality, not price, compared to 54 per cent of the general population.)
BMO, another client, often times its new branch openings to coincide with CNY. “They’ll have big celebrations, with a lucky draw, lion dance and special offers on mutual funds,” Maramba adds.
The courting is welcomed by the Chinese community, but Yue says it must be handled skilfully. “If a Western brand doesn’t truly understand the nuances of Chinese culture, people can see through it, and it will sour them. So do your homework.”