Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year (or simply the Spring Festival) is arguably China’s best known cultural event. Taking place in early February, the Lunar New Year is the most important annual event for Chinese nationals, and it has seen steady revenue growth over the past 10 years as consumers lavishly celebrate with friends and family.

If you’re looking to expand into the lucrative marketplace of Chinese New Year gifts, you’re in the right place. We’ll break down the main advice you should follow to identify popular gift items ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year 2022 and how to avoid common gift taboos to maximise your sales.

Reds, yellows and golds

Unsurprisingly, the main colours of Chinese New Year are red, yellow and gold. Each has strong cultural ties to meanings of health, happiness and riches that consumers will be eager to invest in as they wish their loved ones well.

Red, yellow and gold are ‘safe’ colours for the Chinese New Year — but there are also colours to avoid: black, white and green, for instance, have ties to death and misfortune. You might be able to use white tissue wrapping paper or black trim, but don’t expect goods featuring black, white or green as a predominant colour to do well.

Gifts themed for Chinese Lunar New Year 2022

In 2022, the Lunar New Year will be on 1st February, and under the Chinese zodiac system, will bring the year of the Tiger. As you’re considering gift ideas for the occasion, make sure you’re sticking to the year’s theme with stock featuring tiger emblems.

Chinese New Year gifts

Friends

While the new year celebration is traditionally a family event, consumers are keen to be generous with all loved ones. Popular gifts for friends include:

• Alcohol: China is a leading source of revenue for alcohol manufacturers and retailers, with spirits like Kweichow Moutai and Wu Liang Ye being particularly popular.
• Tea: the domestic market for tea in China has grown nearly 4% each year since 2014. However, coffee consumption is predicted to triple in the next five years, so hot beverages are a growing category you could explore.
• Fruit: while it may be hard to do for e-commerce businesses, fruit baskets are another popular gift idea you could offer (avoid pears, though — find out why in ‘Gifts to avoid stocking’).

Younger people

Popular gifts for children and young people during the Spring Festival follow much of the same cultural norms as the West, including sweets, books, school supplies and toys. Given 2022’s zodiac animal, clothing and accessories with tiger icons may be particularly popular as the animal is said to bring protection and safety.

Similarly, money wrapped in red envelopes (called hong bao) is another common gift for younger people. To adapt this to your e-commerce business, you could offer gift cards for your store for parents and relatives to buy, or pivot to other contemporary versions and offer video game accessories like expansion packs, in-game currencies and promotional content.

Older people

Much like the UK, China has a considerable older population, which means that purchases for this consumer cohort will be plentiful. Similar to Western consumers again, lifestyle products like clothes, teaware, books and living aids like walking sticks or massage equipment are likely to be popular.

Other popular product categories may include game sets (like Mahjong or Wei Qi) that celebrants can use across the holiday period while family and friends visit.

Him and her

Not to be forgotten are couples. Gift categories like luxury clothing, fragrances, chocolates, necklaces and more will be popular as couples seek to exchange special items with one another. China’s version of Valentine’s Day is around six months after the New Year Festival, so many couples will be keen to share a celebratory gift with their partner during the holiday.

Chinese New Year gift best practices:

While you’re deciding potential gift items to stock for Chinese New Year, consider the following advice to help guide your first seasonal sale:

• Luxury is in: China leads the world in luxury spending, and there is a huge consumer appetite for goods that fit the bill. As you’re choosing goods or writing their product descriptions, emphasise the high value you are offering.
• Incentivise purchases of two: in China, gifts are best given in twos. Customers who are keen to stick to this traditional giving practice will be open to additional purchases or impulse buys, affording you increased revenue opportunities.
• Offer wrapping services and discrete options: If you’re able to, try to offer wrapping services or discrete packaging options so customers can save time and ensure surprised faces on the big day.

Gifts to avoid stocking

Some Chinese New Year gifts are simply a no go. As you’re ordering stock, make sure to avoid goods like knives, clocks, shoes, pears, mirrors, handkerchiefs or flowers as each has ties to death, bad luck, or unhappiness in some form.

Accept customer payments seamlessly

China’s e-commerce market is booming, but businesses that don’t facilitate payments in China’s renminbi face losing customers. Consumers often struggle to understand price values in foreign currencies, and many are hesitant to pay additional transaction fees on top of the goods they’re buying. If you’re looking for an easy way to accept international currencies from customers and move money across borders, WorldFirst can help.

WorldFirst is a leading international payments provider with nearly 20 years of experience and specialises in facilitating payments in and out of China — so whether you need to send money to suppliers or receive it from customers, WorldFirst has the solution.

The WorldFirst International Collections Account allows you to operate in international currencies just like a local, helping you send and receive money seamlessly. 

Open an account for free, with no annual fees or minimum deposits. Find out more online or call 0207 801 1065 today.