Ever wondered what a red packet was for?

Lunar new year falls just a few days before Valentine’s day this year, because of that it might be easy to overlook lunar new year. This may be especially true if you are from a country where lunar new year is not a mainstream holiday.

However, with more than 50 million Chinese overseas and much more in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, ignoring the lunar new year and focusing solely on valentine’s day may not be the right choice for your business. Generally speaking the lunar new year period usually marks a period of high consumer spending – spending high enough to affect entire national economies by several percentage points.

Many businesses are increasingly picking up on this and offering lunar new year discounts. But how much do you really know about lunar new year?

Part of delivering customer wow is to really understand your customers and their needs. Hence, we thought it would be a good idea to introduce some of the bits of information which will help our customers around the world better understand the occasion.

Here are 6 nuggets of information that may be useful for your business:

1. Lunar new year is not just for the Chinese
Lunar new year is the new year that is based off the lunar calendar. Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese all celebrate the new year on the same day. Each have their own unique way of celebrating the new year, but it is generally a big occasion for all the nationalities.

2. Red Packets
Red packets of money are given to anyone who is unmarried, or could be a cool way for your business to connect with your Asian customers. The amount of money in the packets differs greatly, it can be a token sum of 2 dollars or a hefty amount to a few hundred or even thousands of dollars. Regardless of the amount, the amount is always an even number. Perhaps a result of this tradition of giving red packets, post lunar new year sales are gaining in popularity in recent years.

3. Lunar new year is a time for change
Since many old items are thrown out while cleaning their houses and many new items are bought. Asian retail usually receives a significant boost during the time period. Chinese families usually look for new clothing, furniture and even renovation during this time period. New year is usually a very good excuse reason to buy new things.

4. A long Lunar New Year holiday
The holiday period spans anywhere from a couple of days to an entire week for some companies. Because of that, travel for non-Chinese families, or even some Chinese families, tend to be very popular during the time period.

5. Reunion meals
Traditionally, Chinese families gather together for dinner on the eve of lunar new year to have a meal called a reunion dinner. As a whole, Lunar New Year is a popular time for friends and family to get together over a meal.

6. Red & Gold
Red and gold are considered lucky colors by the Chinese. Because of that, items in red and gold are generally more popular over during this time period. On the other hand, dark colors are generally avoided during the new year period.

We hope that this little post helps you understand some of your customers a little bit better, or perhaps start a conversation with an Asian friend. At the very least, we hope that you found this post mildly informative. Do let us know what you think of posts such as these, would you like more posts like these covering different occasions? Leave a comment to let us know!