A Guide to Entering China for Foreign Brands and Retailers, Part 2: Chinese E-Commerce Calendar for 2019 – International Brands that Understand and Respect Chinese Culture Are Poised to Win

Executive Summary

This is the second report in our series A Guide to Entering China for Foreign Brands and Retailers. Here, we focus on important dates on the Chinese calendar that foreign brands and retailers should consider as they create specific e-commerce marketing strategies and offline expansion plans for the Chinese market.

• Following Alibaba’s extraordinary success in turning Singles’ Day into a shopping extravaganza, other shopping festivals in China are growing in importance as companies look to spread out higher sales throughout the year and distribute operational costs more evenly.
• Some Western holidays are celebrated quite differently in China. International Women’s Day, for example, is celebrated with the 3.8 Women’s Day shopping festival, which features heavy promotions and discounts targeted toward female consumers.
• The biggest holidays in the Western world are less widely celebrated in China, but many of them represent good opportunities for foreign brands and retailers to promote their products to Chinese consumers.
• Traditional Chinese festivals emphasize family bonding and Chinese culture. Most of these are good opportunities for branding or promotions, but not all of them are. Brands and retailers that can create marketing strategies that leverage specific festivals will be poised for success.

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