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CNY WINNERS: Online merchants ringing it in
Written by Andrew Vanburen (China Correspondent)
Monday, 25 January 2010
Jack Frost be Darned: Online shopping is lining the pockets of virtual retailers. Photo: Internet
CHINESE NEW YEAR 2010 begins with a romantic flair this year, falling on February 14 -- Valentine’s Day.
And for many sectors, red hot sales over this most important of Chinese holidays can’t help but make them fall in love with this particular Golden Week.
But besides airlines, travel companies, restaurants and movies theaters, some may be surprised to know what other sectors line their pockets with a passion during the Spring Festival.
According to online PRC media, virtual shopping venues are among the biggest winners during the extended public holiday, which for some lucky celebrants can stretched into a month-long vacation.
The Chinese language article said that one big winner was Hangzhou-based clothing retailer Dudu Lailai, which has opened a virtual store on Baidu, China’s top search portal.
And Baidu was benefitting from the possible pullout of rival Google from China, home of the world’s most Internet visitors, after the US firm accused Chinese netizens of hacking into its site and the email accounts of its users, as well as imposing onerous censorship requirements on search portals.
A final decision by the Mountain View, California-based firm is pending, but Baidu and its shareholders would be the major beneficiaries if the No.2 player in the market unilaterally withdrew.US-listed shares of Baidu Inc (Nasdaq: BIDU), jumped over 2% on Thursday to an all-time high of 449.83 usd, extending a recent run on both Google’s possible pullout and anticipation of a robust Chinese New Year online shopping season.
Shoppers can avoid closed stores and frostbite by shopping online over the holiday. Photo: Internet
”30% of our annual profit comes from the Golden Week!” The media report says that with the rapidly increasing throngs of regular online users in China (now flirting with 400 mln, or 100 mln more than the total US population!), many consumers are opting for screen shopping over window shopping.
The growing phenomenon also means that rain or shine – or in many cases, snowstorms – as long as Internet connectivity remains intact, virtual shoppers can click on desired purchases 24/7 from the comfort of their own homes, even if China north of the Yangtze is buried under snow for the duration of the Chinese New Year holiday.
And sometimes even warmer climes may see a fair share of the white stuff, as the Great Snowstorm of early 2008 proved, which means stores with an online presence will see more of the green stuff from snow and sleet-weary consumers.
"We do very brisk business during the 30 days holiday and see a huge online order spike,” said an executive with LaiLai DuDu’s online clothing retailer and wholesaler – You Ah, which means “We got it” in Chinese.
"We are well positioned to fully capitalize on the ‘festival economy’," he said.
The clothing portal added that it can make up to 30% of its total annual profits in just that one Golden Week!
"That the holiday also coincides with Valentine’s Day is an added bonus for potential sales,” the company added.
Another online clothing retailer, Beijing-based firm Nubao Xiaodian (Ladies Bag Boutique) is also very happy to see Chinese New Year arrive each spring, and not for the chance to get away from the grind.
"Even though the Chinese New Year holiday is not even a month long, we expect to get 600 orders during the period of at least 10,000 yuan each.
"This is much better than the average during the other 11 months of the year. We fully enjoy Spring Festival and make a lot of money at the same time,” an official with the company said.
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