The Chinese new year is a festival of
joy, family reunion, fun and celebration. However when 1.3 billion Chinese
decide to celebrate and get reunited with their families during the
same seven day period, it generates unprecedented competition for limited
resources and ensuing hardship. At the same time it generates a commercial
bonanza. According to data from the Ministry of
Commerce in China, total retail sales during the week long
festivities reached 539 billion yuan ($86 billion)- 14.7% more than last year.
The commercial opportunities do not just exist for the big retailers and
manufacturers, this special time of the year generates some rather niche, ingenious
but also sometimes dubious commercial activity.
Take me home
The most intense competition during
this period is for transportation to go back home. According to popular
estimates in the media, the Chinese will make 3.4 billion trips during the peak
40 day travel period around the Chinese New Year, of which 3.1 billion will be
road trips. 220 million are expected to take a train ride during this
period. Online ticketing, which started just a few years ago, was expected
to make the whole process relatively painless - however it turned out to be a barrier
for migrant workers in buying tickets to go back home during the spring
festival. According to a survey by the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade,
more than 90% of the migrant workers preferred taking a train to go back home
and almost 80% of them said that they would do so by buying tickets from a
ticket office. 70% of them said that they were not familiar with the online
ticketing procedure and only 18% had tried using the online ticketing service.
A kindly couple who was offering the service for online ticket purchase at a
small fee to migrant workers was apprehended with the accusation of
touting.
For those who are internet literate
the task of making a booking is no less arduous. The average daily number of
hits on the website has topped 120 million during the peak days. Online sales
are now responsible for over a third of total tickets, accounting for as many
as 6 million tickets a day. The buyers often face interminable waits while
the overtaxed computers cope up with the deluge of booking requests. In an
exhibition of ingenuity, three internet giants - Qihoo360, Kingsoft and Sogou -
designed plug-ins for browsers to automate the task of repeatedly trying to
login and buying train tickets on the overloaded train booking
website. Critics opined that the software gives the internet savvy an
unfair advantage to secure the much prized tickets.
The road less travelled
Many consumers are taking the
"road less travelled" with one entrepreneur from Hangzhou choosing to
take 48 buses to reach his home in Linyi in Shandong. Another enterprising soul
undertook the arduous journey back home using 8 train tickets and transfers
from Shanghai to his home town in Sichuan. As direct tickets are most difficult
to secure, this segmented approach worked well for him and he was able to get
home smoothly and relatively quickly. In fact the train enthusiast is offering
consultancy to others on identifying circuitous routes back home where ticket
purchase is still a possibility.
Meet your future son/daughter-in-law
When the young city workers go home,
the parents are solicitous about their quest for marriage partners. Those who
have not achieved success in this area, are worried about creating anxiety among
their parents and persistent pressure on themselves. Taobao, china's online
megastore, which offers everything from the latest iPad to freshly slaughtered
chicken, comes to rescue on this count also. For a few thousand yuan, any
unattached youth can hire someone who would pretend to be his or her future
life partner during the golden week that is spent with the parents. Things do
not always go as smoothly and dispassionately as planned, with a genuine spark
of affection for the hired companion.
Happy meals
Those who have already tied the knot
and are the sole bearers of the family name and hopes for their parents ( as a
result of family planning) need to make the difficult decision of with which
set of parents should they have the nianyefan or the New Year's Eve dinner.
Restaurants have come to the rescue urging the young from hosting the dinner at
their premises, including both set of parents and even grandparents. The
service is popular and the good restaurants are often booked months in advance.
Packaging for 'face'
Of course, when you go home you must
carry gifts. Migrant workers who have left their children in their home towns
and villages in the custody of their elders, have no dearth of what they can
buy, and go back home loaded with toys for their children. The elderly are
often rewarded with health foods, which will provide them with even more energy
and stamina to look after their grandchildren. Marketers often exploit the
gifters' need for face and desire to be seen as someone who has done well in
the city and has come back with generous and valuable gifts. The often modest
gifts are made to look more alluring and grand through excessive packaging. The
authorities have taken notice of this and are coming down or deceptive and
wasteful use of extravagant packaging.
Sleep well while you travel home
A product named "sleep
support" has gained popularity on the internet as a sleep support for
sitting upright sleep. The gadget provides head and chest support to the users,
while sleeping upright on a train. a netizen suggested that if the
instrument can also provide a place for comfortably holding an iPad its value
will be considerably enhanced.
Written by Ashok Sethi
ashok.set@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment