Shanghai to launch night festival to boost night economy

A bartender performs at a night fair of Sinan Mansions in Shanghai, east China, May 24, 2020. A night fair of Sinan Mansions with food stalls, open air museum and art exhibitions etc., opened to boost Shanghai's nighttime economy. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

Shanghai will kick off a Night Festival on June 6 to boost the city's night economy, the authorities announced on Wednesday. A number of bars, museums, bookstores, shopping malls and landmark commercial complexes will join the festival with extended business hours and themed activities like night tours, shopping, dining, reading and live shows.

The festival will integrate online and offline activities. Online platforms like TikTok, Meituan-Dianping, Didi Chuxing, Red, and Alibaba's Hema Fresh will join the festival with favorable discounts and a number of interactive activities.

For instance, Hema will extend the opening hours of their Shanghai stores on June 6. It will also provide night delivery services for iced products like cold beer, soft drinks and watermelons, Chang Yubing, general manager of Shanghai Store Operation with Hema Fresh, told Global Times.

Shanghai will also launch a festival targeting street fashion brands to attract the young generations, Liu Min, deputy director of the city's Commission of Commerce, said at a press conference on Wednesday. It will shed light on new product releases, Chinese street fashion brands and exhibitions on young fashion culture.

Shanghai-based trendy-lifestyle platform DEWU App will provide 1 billion yuan ($140.7 million) in coupons in June to subsidize its consumers, covering more than 200 trendy domestic and overseas brands, Ding Zhixiong, DEWU's senior vice president told the Global Times on Wednesday.

These festivals are part of the city's May 5 Festival, which encourages people to consume as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes in the country. The city's online sales reached 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) in May driven by the May 5 Shopping Festival. The offline consumption of physical goods reached 144.36 billion yuan, the same level as that in 2019, Liu said.

The consumption in the country is seeing a recovery, interviewees reached by the Global Times said. DEWU's Ding said that the young generations, who are the main consumers on DEWU and also a main consumption force in the country, have shown a strong desire for consumption after the coronavirus. "Our sales in May have recovered to the historic peak level," Ding said. He predicted that, with the promotion activities, the platform's sales will boom in June.

"Previously, there was usually only one family member who came to our store to buy vegetables; now we can see a family coming to our store to eat," Hema's Chang told the Global Times, noting that the number of Hema stores in China will increase from about 220 to 300 this year in China based on the promising trend.