Shenzhen has rolled out a three-month long consumption drive aimed at encouraging domestic spending in new areas such as AI, the low-altitude economy and the digital economy.
According to Shenzhen’s Commerce Bureau, the campaign’s launch ceremony was held yesterday at Shenzhen Uniwalk Qianhai, with the program set to feature around 400 events aimed at boosting spending between now and May.
The consumption drive incorporates 12 elements related to new forms of consumption, including AI spending, the debut economy, the trading-in of old consumer goods, the low-altitude economy, digital spending, international spending, cultural tourism spending, food and beverage culture consumption, intangible cultural heritage, sports and health, green spending and MICE.
This month, the campaign will focus on the theme of green and smart shopping. In April, the focus will shift to sports and health, followed by domestically-made fashionable goods in May.
Some of the events scheduled to take place as part of the spending scheme include the inaugural Super Burger Festival, which is scheduled to take place at the Shenzhen Galaxy Twin Towers between 27 and 31 March.
Others include China’s first rose-themed Starbucks pop-up store, which will remain in place at Shum Yip Upperhills until early April; the first Pop Mart themed exhibition in Southern China, which is being hosted at Nanshan Coastal City between now and 30 June, as well as Shenzhen’s Spring Shopping Carnival and 4th sports and outdoor festival, which are scheduled to take place at Huasheng Outlets Shopping Centre from 28 March to 6 April.
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The campaign’s launch yesterday coincided with the staging of various related consumption events at Shenzhen Uniwalk Qianhai such as the “Run Toward Niceness Coffee” festival, which is making its Shenzhen debut and is scheduled to run until 22 March. The festival features more than 80 of China’s top coffee brands, including Hangzhou’s Parking Coffee and Shanghai’s O.P.S.
Shenzhen-based tech firm DJI also took the opportunity to promote its Hasselblad Shenzhen store in Luohu district, which features products such as consumer-level drones, handheld digital cameras and lenses.
Similarly, an AI-powered toy of the Shenzhen-created children’s character, Nailong, was also present, offering parents and children a new shopping experience.
To take advantage of the Shenzhen team’s Guangdong City Basketball League (Yue BA) home game match on 22 March, businesses in the Qianhai-Bao’an central business district have also collaborated to bolster the city’s “ticket stub economy,” which involves offering discounts to residents who present ticket stubs for the upcoming competition.
For instance, residents with tickets are entitled to discounts of up to 60 percent at the Uniway Shopping Mall, while those who shop at Qianhai HOP World can redeem a discount of 12 percent.
As part of the consumption campaign, the Shenzhen authorities have also pushed out a Shenzhen spending guide, specialised spending routes, a consumption ranking list and map.
The Shenzhen campaign is part of the wider nationwide “Shopping in China” initiative, which was introduced last April with the aim of stimulating domestic spending in the country, whose economy has been suffering from sluggish growth in recent years.
