It’s also a prime battleground for luxury brands given China’s strong recovery in this sector. Tmall and Taobao also saw sales increases of 118% YoY in the week before the festival and some brands see record-breaking sales in August. While most flowers were ordered by men, in an interesting trend, there was a 40% increase in the number of young women buying flowers. Intercity orders for flowers across the country rose 33% from 2019 levels. Mid-to-high end cosmetics were popular in lower tier cities and sales of red wine and imported steak rose indicating that more people were opting for home-cooked romantic dinners. In 2020, there were sales increases of 20-30% for home and outdoor goods, and an increase of around 30% for chocolate and candy. Sales also shoot up before and during the festival.

In 2020, just before the festival, gift-related search keywords on JD.com increased 280% with “gift”, “chocolate” and “gift girlfriend/boyfriend” among the most popular. What does this have to do with brands and marketing? Just as many special occasions in the West have become heavily commercialized, so it is in China and the Qixi Festival has turned into a major shopping occasion. How do brands leverage Qixi Festival for campaigns? In 2023, it will be on Tuesday, August 22nd. In 2022, it will be on Thursday, August 4th. Qixi Festival or Chinese Valentine’s Day celebrates the love described in an ancient folktale between a cowherd and a heavenly weaver girl who can only visit each other once a year when flocks of magpies form a bridge in the sky for them to walk on.

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