Photo credit: Shutterstock
Chinese shoppers showed their love on Valentine’s Day this year by gifting gold jewelry and other glittering offerings, data from e-commerce platform Taobao revealed.
This year, Feb. 14 falls during the Lunar New Year celebrations, and while ushering in the Year of the Dragon is front of mind for many Chinese consumers, the country’s true romantics are still marking the occasion.
Golden goodies have emerged as the gift of choice for love-struck users on Alibaba Group’s consumer-to-consumer marketplace Taobao, where sales in the gold product category grew by over 300% year-on-year between Jan. 17 and Jan. 31.
“Compared with flowers and chocolates, giving gold as a gift on Valentine’s Day also has special commemorative significance, symbolizing that ‘love is stronger than gold’,” said a shopper surnamed Xiao in a release from Taobao.
It doesn’t hurt that gold tends to retain its value, making even small presents wrought from the yellow metal a handy investment as well in uncertain economic times.
Popular models include a delicate gold chain bracelet from Lukfook Jewelry featuring a red enamel heart. Over 3,000 Taobao users added the item to their carts as of Jan. 31, according to the platform.
Love in Bloom
Some Chinese brands are blending Lunar New Year symbols with traditional Valentine’s Day motifs.
Peach blossoms, which represent love and prosperity, are a common sight in China at this time of year, and these soft pink blossoms also appeared on jewelry ahead of Feb. 14 this year.
On Taobao, local brand Chow Tai Seng has sold over 40,000 of its his-and-her gold peach blossom bracelets, while searches for “peach blossoms” on the whole have risen more than 10-fold.
Love-seekers are also getting in on the action.
The platform reported that some netizens are buying peach blossom-themed goods to attract other peach blossoms, or potential partners.
