The Spring Festival (lunar New Year) falls very
close to the Western Valentine's Day this year. When the two
festivals come near, businesspeople and tourist agencies in Kunming
choose to promote their sales season with products more related
with the Spring Festival than the Western festival.
In the past when Valentine's Day arrived, the shelves of all
supermarkets in Kunming were filled with chocolate and stuffed
animals, gifts that people normally buy during Valentine's Day.
This year, however, things like these are rarely seen at this
particular time.
"New Year's gifts, like alcohol, tea, and
other things that people often buy during the Spring Festival have
been placed in the most conspicuous places in our supermarket. Yet
there is only one stand set aside for Valentine's Day gifts, much
fewer than previous years," said Ms. Luo from the Haoyouduo
Supermarket in Kunming.
Things are much the same in Kunming Department Store, where most
goods on sale are related with the Chinese Spring Festival.
"The holiday sale (for the Spring Festival) might account for
30-40% of the sales of a whole month, while it is already good
enough if sales of the Valentine's Day can take up 10% of the
monthly sale," a manager from the department store told this
reporter.
The Spring Festival holiday can boost the sales of all kinds of
goods, while Valentine's Day can promote the sales of only a
limited number of things, like cosmetics or women's necessities.
Therefore businesspeople rely their sales more on the Spring
Festival, he said.
For travel agencies that launch a variety of promotion
activities during Valentine's Day, the Western festival has also
given way to the Spring Festival this year.
(Chinanews February 13, 2007)