To avoid Covid resurgence, the Chinese government called people to avoid travelling to their hometowns for family celebrations. According to Xinhua News Agency, comparing the average figures during this period, more than 48 million people in 36 large and medium-sized cities across the country have decided to stay where they work this year to celebrate Lunar New Year. As millions stay put, the Chinese celebrate Spring Festival in new ways.

Traditionally, Chinese make their New Year’s Eve dinner at home or enjoy together with families at a restaurant. This year, however, the surging popularity of semi-finished goods and online offerings have been seen. Many people booked a table for New Year’s Eve dinner through food delivery platforms. A decent dinner just costs around RMB400 (USD60) on average. Meituan, a China’s food delivery giant, showed that the sales of New Year's Eve dinner and its related products on the online catering platform have increased by 96% compared to the same period last year. Also, many restaurants and platforms such as Ele.me offered consumers large discounts and coupons during this holiday in order to stand out in the online market.

EMS, SF, Zhongtong, Suning, and several couriers said that the delivery service is still open throughout the holiday. Due to the pandemic this year, online shopping has become the choice for more and more people to purchase New Year's gifts, and the demand for express delivery has increased significantly. According to Sohu, on New Year's Eve and the first two days of the new year, more than 130 million express items were handled nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 223%.

With over 1.5 billion people globally celebrating Chinese New Year, e-commerce businesses have a massive opportunity to drive sales. As more consumers rely on online channels to search, discover, compare and buy products, it is important for brands to introduce limited-time promotions and advertisements to capture post-holiday sales spikes. Thanks to easy-to-use mobile apps and payment systems, online shopping is part of everyday life in China now and grows brighter after the pandemic bump. 

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