Chinese New Year also known as Lunar New Year, is celebrated by Chinese communities all over the globe. It is a 15 day festival that begins with the new moon somewhere between January 21st and February 20th with celebrations continuing until the next full moon. The specific date on which Chinese New Year officially occurs is Friday 12th February 2021 and is known to be the year of the Ox.
The origin of Chinese new year is deep rooted in legend. It is said that a monster names "Nian" meaning 'year' would attack the villagers at the beginning of each new year. The monster is said to be afraid of bright lights, loud noises and the colour red, hence why many Chinese New Year traditions involve fire crackers, lanterns and red clothes, in order to scare the monster away and bring forth good luck!
Chinese New Year Stats
Lunar New Year in the past has been the biggest spending period for Chinese shoppers, with sales growing in 2019 by 13.4% in comparison to the same period in 2018. Although the Coronavirus has hindered predictions for spending in 2021, it is thought that spending during this period is still going to be strong, coming second in GBP worth only to the Christmas spending period! That is a huge amount of value! With this in mind, it was predicted that in 2020 spending in central London witnessed a boost of £17 Million during Lunar New Year in this area alone! There is a strong tradition of gift giving around this time of year and Chinese shoppers are encouraged to buy goods and services from the UK due to the unusually low value of the Great British Pound against Chinese Yen.
Chinese New Year Seasonal Branding
The Lunar New Year is a time where Chinese communities celebrate ancient traditions and enjoy spending time with their family. An easy and effective strategy in order to engage with your audience during this time would be to focus on incorporating these traditions into your brand offering. Adopting colours and images associated with Chinese New Year into your branding will help to appeal to your audience during this time. As a café or restaurant, this may involve incorporating Chinese decorations inside your building, creating a set menu option suitable for families and branding takeaway packaging with appropriate designs so that your audience can relate to you and your brand.
Why You Should Be Getting Involved
Just like a western Christmas, people of the Chinese community travel around the world in order to spend time with their loved ones during this time of year, often a couple of weeks before the festivities begin. It can be beneficial to take advantage of this influx of spending before the New Year celebrations begin and can often be one of the most profitable periods throughout the holiday. It may also be beneficial to know that the Chinese community are predominantly a mobile-dominated market with mobile phone usage at its highest during the Chinese New Year period. This provides a golden opportunity to connect with your customers through targeted mobile marketing and using branded packaging to re-enforce these messages in store.
Spending around Chinese New Year is ever increasing year on year and the global retail market is beginning to realise this. The Chinese consumer market is one of the biggest markets on the planet and Chinese New year is the time when this mass market begins to spend spend spend, whether it's online sales or physically travelling and spending in a different country.
If this event isn't already in your seasonal branding calendar then it should be! Unlike many other seasonal periods in the UK, Chinese New Year lasts for weeks and has the highest amount of spending in terms of value second only to Christmas! And you wouldn't miss Christmas... would you?
Recommended Products
Printed Greaseproof Paper - Chinese New Year is all about the gift of giving. How about wrapping some of your tasty teats in some printed greaseproof paper to create the image of a present!
Printed Plastic Cups - Soft drinks are one of the most popular beverages amongst the Chinese community in the UK with J20 topping out at the most popular. Bubble Tea is also on the rise as a popular choice of drink. Make sure you are ready to meet market demand with some bespoke printed plastic cups!
Paper Cup Printed Sleeves - Printed Sleeves are a fantastic way of engaging in seasonal branding without having to re-order a massive amount of stock for one holiday. You can continue to use your regular cups with branded paper cup sleeves, printed with a design to suit the current seasonal event! It's a win win!
Check out our Easter designs!
Order Off The Shelf
We have a range of pre-made Chinese New Year theme cups ready to order off the shelf. This means you don't pay any origination charges and the lead time for your cups is significantly reduced!
Design Your Own
If you would like to design and print your own Chinese New Year theme cups or would like to edit one of our pre-existing designs and add your own logo, contact us for a quote!