Happy Lunar New Year to all!

恭 喜 發 財 !
As the Chinese wish their loved ones, friends and family great prosperity in the new year, they gift red packets filled with lucky money. 
Photo © Lucia Carpio 2018

The Lunar New Year Holiday presents A Huge Opportunity For the Chinese to practice a key Tradition with a twist, or two.

One key tradition of the Lunar New Year is for elders and married people to give their loved ones, juniors and children little red envelopes – known as “Lai See” in Cantonese or “Hung Bao” in Mandarin - filled with lucky money inside. This is to symbolise that one has plenty of good blessings and pleasantries to pass on.  This is a custom naturally much welcome by the younger generation.

According to PCA Predict a market leading provider of cloud-based address management services, this Lunar New Year tradition has changed rapidly in recent years thanks to e-commerce.

Chris Boaz, ‎Head of Marketing of PCA Predict, (a GBG company) said many people have begun gifting this tradition online, with 46 billion red envelopes exchanged digitally last year.

“This follows a wider trend of nearly three-quarter (73%) of Chinese consumers shopping online for Chinese New Year.   There is a huge opportunity for UK retailers to capitalise on the Chinese ecommerce market around New year, especially as it is estimated more than a fifth (23%) of consumers in China will make at least one cross-border purchase via the internet in the next year.”

“While Chinese New Year can’t compete with the size and scope of Singles’ Day in terms of ecommerce opportunity for international brands, it is becoming an increasingly important date for retailers outside of China.”

Meanwhile the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong has reported that two Shanghai-based internet entrepreneurs believe millennials want more than just lucky money in red envelopes or "Hung Bao".

The two ladies, Teresa Wu and Amber Chen have tapped into a segment of shoppers who want more creative ideas when it comes to gifting during the new year.  They founded BeGifted, an ecommerce platform devoted to helping their client find the perfect gift for that special someone.

With their background in luxury media and PR industry for 13 years, the two "are trying to shed the negative association" with bribery and lavish gift-giving, "with a product selection that is more about sentiment than extravagance."

According to the report, most of the items cost 100 to 2,000 yuan (£10 - £200) , and many of their customers are in their 20s and 30s.