Time-honored Carnival Started the Year to Boost Consumption

By Liu Xinwei

On February 2， 2023， at the press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council， the Ministry of Commerce stated that this year would be designated as “2023 the Year to Boost Consumption”， and as the main line， national consumption promotion activities would be carried out as a whole to stimulate market vitality and form a wave after wave of consumption upsurge.

Over 70% of time-honored brands have sales exceeding RMB 10 million

At present， Chinese time-honored enterprises have a good momentum of development. According to research， about 85% of Chinese time-honored enterprises are profitable. Even when affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last few years， more than 70% of enterprises remained profitable. In 2022， nearly 35% of enterprises annual sales exceeded RMB 100 million， and more than 70% of them exceeded RMB 10 million， which contributed to the recovery of the consumer market.

According to Sheng Qiuping， Vice Minister of Commerce， during the Spring Festival this year， the online consumption of time-honored brands maintained a rapid growth rate， and the consumption of food and beverage takeout increased by 13.5% year-on-year， which drove the sales of retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce to increase by 6.8% year-on-year， becoming a highlight of the consumer market.

In order to further stimulate the innovation vitality of time-honored brands and tap their consumption potential， China launched the “Time-honored Carnival”. With the theme of “savoring time-honored brands and enjoying a new life”， this activity focuses on national timehonored brands and local time-honored brands， taking into account local specialty products， and organizes a series of “1+3+N”activities throughout the year to enhance the cultural connotation and supply quality of time-honored brands， create more consumption scenarios for the people， and continuously restore and expand consumption.

The first theme was “holiday consumption”， with a focus on traditional festivals such as the Lantern Festival， Dragon Boat Festival， Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival， important holidays such as May 1， Summer and National Day， as well as large-scale exhibitions such as China International Import Expo （CIIE）， the Consumer Expo and Fair for Trade in Services， and consumer nodes such as“618” and “Double 11”. During this time， major e-commerce platforms organized to hold special promotion activities for time-honored brands， promote timehonored brands to enter shopping malls， neighborhoods， communities and platforms， and increase the supply of seasonal goods in order to activate the holiday consumer market.

The second is the theme activity of “Head Live”. In recent years， live e-commerce has become an important direction of time-honored brand innovation， with nearly 350 Chinese time-honored brands broadcasting live on major platforms. Among them， in 2022， the number of live broadcasts exceeded 50，000， and turnover exceeded RMB 3.5 billion， a five-fold increase over 2019. At the same time， all localities actively support time-honored brands to develop live e-commerce. For example， Zhejiang Province built the “Timehonored Guochao Digital Industrial Park” and Shandong Province supported the establishment of the “China Timehonored Live Broadcasting Base”.

“In the future， we will organize more heads and inheritors of old brands to enter the live broadcast room， communicate with consumers through the lens， tell stories about development of their brands， show traditional skills， and let consumers buy quality products and experience traditional culture，” Sheng Qiuping said.

The third is the theme activity of “exploring time-honored shops.”Promoting the experience of building time-honored brand pavilions and museums in Shanghai， Shandong， Jiangsu and other places， support qualified cultural centers and museums to build time-honored brand experience zones， and carry out centralized exhibition and sales of old brands to attract consumers interactive participation.

“In the past three years， the ‘Timehonored Carnival event has been successfully held continuously， driving the consumption in related fields to nearly RMB 40 billion， which is very popular among enterprises and consumers，” Sheng Qiuping said.

Time-honored brands started the first shot of consumption recovery

On February 4， the Ministry of Commerce and the Shandong Provincial Government held the launching ceremony of the Spring Festival consumption season in 2023 and the national “Time-honored Carnival” （hereinafter referred to as the event） in Taidong Road， Qingdao， and held the exhibition and sales activities of time-honored brands simultaneously to guide the consumption of quality brands.

At the launching ceremony， Wang Wentao， Minister of Commerce， said in a video speech that the full launch of the 2023 “Time-honored Carnival” on the century-old Taidong pedestrian street in Qingdao is a great starting point to make overall plans for online and offline activity， and continue to advance throughout the year. With higher quality goods supply and more innovative consumption scenarios， the masses will have more sense of acquisition and happiness in the process of savoring time-honored brands.

Zhou Naixiang， Governor of Shandong Province said that this year， Shandong Province will vigorously implement the “Year to Boost Consumption” to accelerate the recovery of consumption as the main driving force of the economy. The government will carefully organize activities such as “Enjoy Shandong Consumption Year”， “Taste Shandong”， E-commerce to promote consumption， cultural tourism to benefit the peoples consumption season， timehonored brand new year festival， and will introduce policies and measures to promote consumption in areas such as business and cultural tourism as soon as possible， and launch a package of policies to benefit enterprises and people in terms of platform construction， activity development， financial support， and issuance of consumer vouchers， so as to promote the overall recovery of consumption.

At the launching ceremony， representatives of 10 Shandong enterprises jointly read out the proposal of “Brand Consumption Quality Life，” issued an initiative to the national consumer brand enterprises， actively practiced the new development concept， served to build a new development pattern， responded to the theme of “Enjoy the benefits of the whole people all year round”， and demonstrated the responsibility of enterprises in expanding brand consumption and enhancing peoples livelihood and well-being， so as to achieve greater development.

Five major sectors show “new consumption”

The event was held for three consecutive days， with five sections， including Qingdao New Energy Auto Exhibition， Qingdao Foreign Trade Fair， Qingdao Famous Agricultural Products Exhibition， Qingdao Internent Explosives Exhibition， Time-honored Brand and Intangible Products Exhibition， and more than 100 enterprises made their debut.

Qingdao New Energy Auto Exhibition leads the consumption of bulk commodities. The event set up a new energy automobile brand booth outside the main street， and invited 10 domestic mainstream automobile brands， new carmaking forces， luxury brands and joint venture brands， such as Volkswagen， BYD， Chery and Hiphi， to present their models and introduce preferential policies on the spot.

Qingdao Foreign Trade Fair linked domestic and foreign trade. There are 25 foreign trade high-quality enterprises， such as Bolan Food and Y.L.S. Textiles， which focus on displaying and selling products， across six categories， such as household goods， toys and gifts， textiles and clothing， food， sports and outdoor products， and imported goods. There are also camping trolleys， Kermit chairs， stationery products for export， childrens brand clothing， first beautiful wig products， Springsnow meat products， straw hats， hand-made bamboo baskets and other goods on display and sale.

There are many geographical indication brands in Qingdao， including about 25 enterprise booths for Jiaozhou Chinese Cabbage， Majiagou Celery， Licha Black Pork， Handmade Yuanxiao， Qingdao Old Ham， Blossom Steamed Bread， Liuting Pigs Feet and other.“Qingdao Agricultural Products” are exhibited online and offline， and the promotion of agricultural brand cultivation and “San Pin Yi Biao” certification is intensified， to promote the development and promotion of the whole agricultural industry chain through industry education and brand benefits.

The exhibition of time-honored brands and intangible products presents traditional charm. At the event site， 30 time-honored enterprises set up respective booths. In addition to local time-honored enterprises in Qingdao， well-known timehonored enterprises from other cities in the province were also invited to appear， including Gaojia Sugar Ball， Liujia Flowerlike Sugar Ball， Chaoyixing， Dezhou Braised Chicken and Donge Colla CoriiAsini. These brands show the charm of time-honored brands with the theme of “new national tide， new inheritance and new consumption”.

It is worth mentioning that the scene also set up a cultural theme performance area. During the exhibition， several themed parades， flash shows and other performances were held every day， including traditional folk handmade products such as dough figurines， clay tigers， sugar painting， fabrics， clay sculptures， and more. The experience of making China glutinous rice balls together with foreign friends， the handpainted production of solve riddles on the lanterns at the Lantern Festival， the on-site production of radish sculptures， and the clown floats and Han clothing performances， creating a series of varied experiences.

“Shandong Province has given priority to restoring and expanding consumption， actively promoted the upgrading of traditional consumption， promoted the interaction between urban and rural consumption， fully released the consumption potential of cultural tourism， innovated and developed time-honored brands， further boosted the confidence of the consumer market， and accelerated the recovery of consumption to become the main driving force of the economy，” Zhou Naixiang said.