Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

THE city will launch more than 100 activities in May at more than 30 shopping areas with over 1,000 participating brands to offer benefits and discounts of more than 100 million yuan (US$15.45 million) to promote consumption.

The series activities of Happy Shopping Shenzhen, inaugurated at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport on Wednesday, are part of the nationwide campaign to boost consumption in May.

The promotional activities are being organized by Shenzhen Retail Business Association, China UnionPay Shenzhen Co. Ltd. and the airport.

At the Shenzhen airport, more than 100 businesses will participate in activities covering eating, traveling and shopping, a release of the airport said Thursday.

This month, Luohu District gave out 10 million yuan in digital currency to encourage consumption. Futian will hold its first coffee festival. Longhua will introduce a digital fashion festival. Shenzhen Retail Business Association will organize retailers to develop promotion activities. China UnionPay’s promotions will cover many scenarios in shopping and tourism.

The consumption promotion month is aimed at stimulating the city’s consumer economy.

At the seventh Shenzhen Municipal Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Shenzhen Party chief Wang Weizhong said the city will speed up efforts to become an international consumption city, and the construction of world-level landmark-style business centers and high-quality business streets.

At a news conference of the Guangdong Provincial Government Information Office in March, Zhou Mingwu, deputy chief of the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau, said the city is forging a high-quality business circle, a high-quality business pedestrian street, a night-economy demonstration street and cultivating a batch of private enterprises in the consumption sector.

The Dongmen business pedestrian street had been included in the upgrading list of the second batch of national high-quality business pedestrian streets.

On Wednesday, the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau unveiled a draft plan for the construction of international consumption central city. In the plan, the city will construct Houhai Super Business Circle by connecting the present Houhai business area with MixC and Shenzhen Talent Park. It will be a destination of high-end consumption and an iconic city scene.

The city will also forge the core business street at Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters and high-end consumption complex in Xiangmihu area.

The city is trying to build 20 high-quality business circles, pedestrian streets and night economy demonstration areas in five years. Those demonstration blocks that pass evaluations will be rewarded 20 million yuan.

In 2020, the commerce bureau introduced measures to attract world well-known brands to open their world’s first shops or flagship stores in Shenzhen by offering a reward of 1 million yuan.

If the shop in Shenzhen is the first of its kind in China, or in South China, the brands will get rewards of 600,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, respectively, according to the measures on the First Shop Economy. The first shops or flagship shops play a driving role in stimulating consumption and become an important index in evaluating the business vitality and fashion level of a city.

In 2020, 26 shopping centers introduced 97 first shops of well-known brands, including nine first shops in China, three first shops on the Chinese mainland, 32 first shops in South China and 53 first shops in Shenzhen.