The traditional family feast on New Year’s Eve in China—Lunar New Year’s Eve, that is—is almost as old as the ancient holiday itself. But this year, thanks to e-commerce, Chinese families can complement the classic hot pot and dumplings with steak from Australia or Canadian lobster when they sit down to dinner on Feb. 7.
This is just one example of how online shopping sites such as Alibaba Group’s Taobao Marketplace are modernizing Chinese New Year. Check out the graphic and video below for more ways this time-honored custom is now celebrated with an e-twist. And after the graphic, read aboutthe results from Alibaba’s Ali Chinese New Year Shopping Festival. Xin nian da ji! (Have a prosperous new year!)
Nowwatch this video of how a family in distant Shaanxi Province enjoyed a New Zealand seafood dinner, cooked for them personally by a Kiwi chef,ordered online through Tmall.com.
Alibaba this year launched the first Ali Chinese New Year Shopping Festival, aiming to make international goods more accessibletorural Chinese shoppers while promoting the sale of agricultural products in the country’s big cities. Results from the Jan. 17 – Jan. 21event are in: 2.1 billion items were sold on Alibaba retail marketplaces over the five-day period, according to a report released by Alibaba and research firm CBNData. (GMV was not disclosed.)
Other highlights from theCNY online shopping festival:
- 70 percent of orders were completed via mobile devices.
- The festival attracted more than 5,000 international brands from 25 countries and regions. Ranked by country, products from the U.S., Japan, Germany, Korea and Australiawere themost popular.
- While clothes and food items accounted for more than half ofall sales, baby products and travel-related purchases, such as air tickets and hotel bookings, saw strong growth.
- Women accounted for 59 percent of cross-border purchases of imported goods, driving strong sales of cosmetics, food and baby products.
- Average value of orders placed at some 12,000 Taobao Rural Service Centers grew 117 percent to RMB 262 ($40) compared with the average per-order value in December ofRMB 121($18).
- Apparel was the best-selling category among rural buyers, while consumer electronics like smart TVs, kitchen appliances and air conditioners were also popular.
- Alibaba said 80,000 bottles of chili sauce from Guizhou Province, two tons of black pork from Dabie Mountain, 30,000 eggs from northern Jiangsu Province, and 90,000 kilograms of Luochuan apples were all sold out within hours after the event began.
