Shops cash in on rising popularity of Mother’s Day
Print Edition
LOCAL florists are seeing a bloom boom, and department stores are offering hefty discounts on jewelry, handbags and other goods ahead of Mother’s Day.
The annual celebration, known as muqin jie in Chinese, falls on Sunday.
In a flower market on Wanhangdu Road, wholesaler Liang Bo said his carnation sales have doubled this week.
“We’ve been selling between 1,000 and 2,000 bunches a day,” he said.
Another flower wholesaler surnamed Xu said his sales have increased by a third, with carnations and peonies the most popular. Carnations cost between 12 yuan (US$1.90) and 15 yuan a bunch, with peonies at 30 yuan, he said.
Mother’s Day first appeared on China’s mainland in the late 1980s after gaining a foothold in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The idea of honoring mothers blends nicely with traditional Chinese respect for parents.
Sentimentality aside, the annual event is now ripe fruit for retailers, who have helped propel its popularity.
A search for “Mother’s Day gift” on Taobao.com yesterday returned 132,500 items, ranging from combs and table lamps to massage machines and necklaces. Some products, like chocolates, come with “Happy Mother’s Day” written on them.
Other products can be personalized with the recipient’s name.
In the bricks and mortar space, some local department stores hold sales to celebrate Mother’s Day.
In a New World Department Store outlet on Shaanxi Road South, some shoes and jewelry are marked down to half price.
A sales clerk at a jewelry counter in the store told Shanghai Daily that some customers brought their mothers along to select the jewelry.
“But not many,” the clerk said. “Maybe there will be more on Mother’s Day.”
Zhou Yitian, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, told Shanghai Daily that her family celebrates by taking her mother and mother-in-law for an evening car ride, followed by dinner.
Since her daughter is so young, Zhou said she isn’t expecting a gift herself.
After a whisper in her ear from her mother, the little girl shyly said: “I’ll buy my mom flowers.”
Meng Fang, who has a 2-year-old child, said she always buys her mother clothing or some other gift for Mother’s Day and takes her to a restaurant.
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