Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
Baoshan District launched its second Double Five Shopping Festival yesterday.
Baoshan District launched its second Double Five Shopping Festival on Wednesday to stimulate consumption while advancing the digital economy and electronic currency.
As part of strict COVID-19 prevention measures, this year’s shopping festival will take place under the motto “Life, KI and Baoshan” with a total of 258 events until the end of June.
The aim is to strengthen the influence and competence of domestic brands, create a smart consumption system and realize Baoshan’s ambition to become the main bridgehead of the building campaign of the scientific innovation center in Shanghai, the district trade commission said.
Shanghai will start around 1,900 promotional activities during this year’s city-wide Double Five Shopping Festival. Compared to last year, this session will be larger, better quality of care, larger in scope and more practical for consumers.
The annual festival in the northern district mainly focuses on new brands and products, promoting e-yuan – a virtual currency, the digital economy, and promoting brick and mortar stores.
Numerous new stores will open in the district during the festival. Muji Apartment, Alibaba Local Life, Laike Go-Karting and Round 1 will make arrangements with local malls and wet markets in Baoshan during the opening ceremony of the festival.
Domestic cosmetics and apparel brands based in Baoshan such as Hanshan Ceramics, Let’s Talk Glass, Inoherb, Xiaohan Clothes and Origin Water will be releasing new products during the festival. The business environment will be further optimized to encourage famous international and original designer brands to settle in Baoshan.
As a highlight, Baoshan will release new E-Yuan landscapes at the opening ceremony. The district has cooperation agreements with six banks in the district to promote electronic currency in eight commercial centers, nine innovation parks and ten shopping complexes during the festival. Red e-yuan packets and electronic coupons are being issued to further increase consumption and promote the convenient and secure payment method.
Locals can now apply to be “whitelisted” for digital yuan testing at any of the six bank branches, and their applications can be approved at some banks in as little as three days.
The city, along with five other regions, was added to the list of the Chinese pilot program for the sovereign digital yuan last October.
The first E-Yuan test began in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Xiong’an New Area in Hebei Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province in late 2019.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
A night market in Wisdom Bay
Go digital in the fast lane
Baoshan’s Trade Commission has invited state banks, including the Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank, to promote the Yuan digital landscapes in large shopping malls, department stores, food and medicine franchises, and wet markets.
A green channel will be opened to expedite approval for the “whitelist” of digital currency designed to boost individual consumption, improve the attractiveness of Baoshan’s major commercial centers and support the digital transformation of shopping malls and streets.
The Baoshan Shopping Festival will also help boost the district’s digital economy sector. The boom in the online economy during the coronavirus pandemic has opened up more opportunities for technology firms and new online businesses.
New infrastructures like 5G base stations and charging stations for electric cars have helped restore the economy and are expected to drive future economic development.
Baoshan has served as the “golden servant” for online new economy businesses. It will further optimize the administrative approval process and collect suggestions and requirements from e-commerce companies more actively.
Xhange, an e-commerce womenswear brand, has been based in Baoshan for 16 years. The county government helped her solve many problems related to funding, marketing, and offices. Last year, the Baoshan government helped apply for a local hukou or a permit for two of the company’s employees. The brand has become the city’s best online womenswear retailer on Taobao.com, selling 5 million items for a total of 1.5 billion yuan ($ 231,150) in 2020.
During the shopping festival, Xhange and other leading e-commerce companies in Baoshan will jointly launch the second “Digital Life Festival” with online and offline activities to limit new consumer trends, live streaming and marketing events.
Shanghai Fantong Biotech, which provides disinfection solutions for hospitals, laboratories, schools and transportation stations, will introduce a third generation artificial intelligence disinfection robot during the festival. Local everyday chemical manufacturer Simpleway will be releasing automatic hand sanitizer and washing machines.
The festival will also help add momentum to brick and mortar stores, which have been hit by both the online shopping trend and the pandemic. Important advertising campaigns take place on Labor Day, Mother’s Day, Children’s Day, Father’s Day and the Dragon Boat Festival.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
A live streaming event at the Wisdom Bay Innovation Park
Boost to brick-and-mortar stores
An exhibition on the heritage of the historical city of Luodian is on display at the Baoshan U World shopping mall. Dragon boat building, dragon painting and historical cuisine are offered along with vouchers and shopping discounts.
The city dates back to the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) and was once the largest and most popular marketplace in the region, known as the “Golden Luodian”. However, the “golden” label gradually disappeared in the face of urban development. The events aim to restore its former popularity.
Baoshan Wanda Plaza will launch a fashionable promotional event for Chinese brands with big discounts for some brands. Baolong Plaza will showcase a lot of interactive games and happy drawings.
Other pioneering innovation parks in Baoshan, such as Wisdom Bay, Bridgelife and Innovation Galaxy, will open signature nightlife markets during the festival. Shopping complexes are encouraged to extend business hours and host stage dramas, concerts, fashion shows, and esports games to attract customers.
During last year’s nightlife festival in Wisdom Bay, an innovation park, around 200 shops in the innovation park took part in the event. Visitors were invited to enjoy beer and music, and visit various museums along the Wenzaobang River, the city’s third major waterway after the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Stream.
Baoshan was once home to iron steel and other industries in the city, and many of the nightlife options were developed from this industrial heritage. Bridgelife Park, for example, was renovated from a vacuum bottle factory, while Wisdom Bay was home to the former woolen textile factory No. 3 in Shanghai.
A “New Energy Car Festival” is taking place in Songnan Town together with 30 4S stores. The city has also designed various events and itineraries so that visitors can learn more about its industrial history during the festival.
For example, the Elite Valley was converted from a former import and export warehouse from 1959. The warehouse once belonged to the Shanghai branch of the Chinese import and export company for complete equipment. Much of the country’s foreign aid materials were shipped overseas from this location.
A well-preserved section of the Songhu Railway, China’s first railroad, which opened in 1876, is an ideal place for the public to take pictures with an old locomotive and wagons. The site now has offices for more than 60 high tech and startup companies and is also a leisure complex with restaurants and entertainment options.
A home decorating festival is held in the nearby town of Dachang with nearly 100 brands including Red Star Macalline, B&Q and IKEA.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
A night life food market in Wisdom Bay