When Valentine’s Day met The First Day Back to Work after the 7-day Chinese New Year Holiday, the Nanjing Commerce Bureau found the romantic pairing to be worth a doting ¥2.38 billion yuan during the holiday, up 9.6 percent from last year (Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods).
As small shops were closed for business during the holiday, big malls and supermarkets were packed with people. Big data revealed how some of the big supermarkets fared (in sales of million RMB):
Suguo = 430
Deji Plaza = 110
The Central = 87
Golden Eagle = 61
Metro (Yuhua) = 19
RT Mart (Longjiang) = 8
Food, Clothing, local specialties, jewellery and electronic products took the majority of the market share. Farm products took over the market at 0.47 billion, 8.3 percent higher than last year. Imported products such as Cherry, Kiwi fruit, Okra and Thailand rice were popular among consumers.
As for the catering business, the total sales of 24 restaurants surveyed reached ¥24.49 million yuan. Consumers in Nanjing spent an average of ¥150-200 yuan per person on Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner.
“Red Packet” fever swept the country during the holiday. Rolled out by WeChat two years ago, the app’s function allows users to allocate money randomly in a chat group. From New Year’s Eve on, Jiangsu Netizens sent 0.497 billion red packets and received 1.687 billion, ranking second in nation after those in Guangdong, who sent 0.922 billion and received 3.179 billion over five days. The entire nation sent out and received 32.1 billion red packets in total, 10 times of last year’s figure.
According to the data, Post-90s are the main force therein, sending over 2.588 billion red packets, twice the amount sent by their parents. Even grandmas and grandpas registered for WeChat account and joined the red packet bonanza, turning it into the second most popular new year activity besides watching the “Spring Festival Gala”.
By 5 pm on 14th February, 1184 couples tied the knot in Nanjing, including one Chimpanzee couple from Hongshan Forestry zoo; Xiao Hei from Taiwan and Xiao Lv from Shanghai.
Although this figure was much higher than usual (for the humans), it was just roughly one-third of last year’s figure, when it also happened to be Lantern’s Day. A member of staff from the Nanjing Bureau of Civil Affairs said now more people prefer to get married on 20th May, since “5.20” shares a similar pronunciation as “wo-ai-ni”(I love you) in Chinese.
However, there were more couples in Nanjing breaking up on Valentine’s Day than last year. Among the 112 couples that got divorced, some were fighting over the hassles over the holiday. Some chose the first day after the Spring Festival Holiday out of filial intentions as not upset their parents during the family reunion, according to the Civil Affairs Bureau.
For those Romeos and Juliets whose relationships were still intact this Valentine’s, the markup in rose sales may be daunting. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but may cost a lot more on Valentine’s Day. A florist revealed that the price per red rose increased from ¥6 yuan to 10 yuan; blue roses from ¥20 to ¥30. The price of a ¥176 rose bouquet has now doubled on Valentine’s day, partly due to the heavy snow in Kunming before the holiday which affected rose production.
This year many turned to the Internet for flowery delivery services. Taobao saw rose sales 10 times higher than previously, especially for bespoke bouquets. According to Taobao statistics, 66.4 percent ordering flowers online were male users; most of them post 85s. However, it is worth noticing that post 00s also contributed to some 20 percent of the flowers and chocolates sale.
To quote Shakespeare again, “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” Those who ordered flowers early online got themselves a good bargain but those who almost forgot about the special day were not so lucky. In a flowershop in Xinjiekou, Mr. Luo, who just bought a bouquet worth ¥598 forced a smile; “I was hoping for a low–profile (low-cost) Valentine’s day this year. We have been married for 6 years you see… but this morning she sent me a picture of the flowers in her office. I immediately took the hint and rushed to the store before it was too late”.
Miss Shen, owner of the flower shop said many guys were like Mr. Luo, who came to the store after noon and placed their purchase within seconds. In fact, one survey revealed 22 percent of men admitted they picked up flowers in a rush.
In face of the mark up in rose prices, some frugal couples have come up with the idea of sending each other vegetable bouquets to express their love. It will almost certainly last longer and taste better than roses.
