3 key engagement strategies to take away from Lunar New Year 2022

As the pandemic creates disruption for the third Lunar New Year in a row, consumers across Asia are adapting and finding new ways to shop and celebrate this important traditional festival. 

With many encouraged not to travel, the stay-at-home economy is experiencing another boost, fuelling opportunities in e-commerce and remote gifting. But even as Lunar New Year traditions go digital, consumers are craving engaging experiences close to home amid travel restrictions.

In this blog, we call out three consumer engagement strategies – from online to offline experiences – for brands to take away from this holiday season.

1. M-commerce in focus

With mobile commerce playing a growing role in driving online shopping in Asia, brands and retailers need to integrate mobile tech closely into the shopper journey, from discovery and browsing to frictionless commerce and delivery.

Douyin (China’s TikTok equivalent) ran its 2022 New Year Goods Festival digitally, reaching a total of 42.4bn views, according to the platform. Users were invited to create short videos highlighting new year dishes from their hometown, resonating with those who couldn’t travel home and exposing regional products to a national audience.

2. Remote gifting boom

As the gifting boom continues to shift online, brands and retailers looking to tap into this trend need to ensure they’re making upstream investments to offer new conveniences and supercharge last-mile deliveries.

This Lunar New Year, chocolate brand Dove has partnered with food delivery platform Meituan for 30-minute deliveries in select cities in China. Consumers were able to use the service to send gifts to loved ones they were unable to visit in-person this year.

3. Experiential fun

With limited holiday travel amid the ongoing pandemic, consumers are exploring staycations and local retail venues for a dose of fun. Retailers should engage visitors with offline activations, including gaming strategies and immersive displays.

As we’ve been tracking at WGSN, shopping malls across APAC are being transformed into principal venues for socialising and entertainment. Hong Kong’s East Point City mall, for example, is partnering with LEGO to showcase its Lunar New Year-themed LEGO Tiger City installation. Visitors can play interactive games for a chance to win vouchers and redeem Hong Kong-exclusive LEGO sets.

Retailers could replicate these key engagement strategies for upcoming regional and global holidays to connect and engage with consumers.

WGSN Insight subscribers can log in and read the full list of strategies for the Lunar New Year period and beyond.