Electronics stores, coffee chains and even local authorities in China are slashing prices and handing out millions of dollars worth of discount coupons to kick-start an economy battered by gradually easing, virus-fighting restrictions on movement.
Gome Retail Holdings Ltd (國美零售) and Suning.com Co Ltd (蘇寧易購) plan to hand out more than 620 million yuan (US$88 million) worth of vouchers, while Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) Alipay (支付寶) is giving away 10 million discount tokens for 10,000 retailers on its app.
JD.com Inc (京東) said that from today, it would give out 1.5 billion yuan worth of coupons for branded goods in categories including electronics.
Photo: AFP
Even the railway authority was from yesterday to cut ticket prices by as much as 45 percent, while local governments, such as those of Hebei, Zhejiang and Guangxi provinces, are giving out vouchers for tourist attractions, movie theaters and shops.
“We’ve launched some discounted set offers to consumers in recent days, hoping to help consumers getting back to their normal life,” a Pacific Coffee Co (太平洋咖啡) chain spokeswoman said, referring to a coffee-and-bun deal priced as low as 20 yuan.
The promotions reflect concern that the outbreak has depressed consumer appetite and could have a lingering effect, even as the number of new locally transmitted cases has dropped.
About 500 movie theaters reopened over the weekend after being shut for almost two months, but took in just 30,000 yuan on Saturday, local media have reported.
Retail sales in the world’s second-largest economy shrank by one-fifth in January and last month from the same period a year earlier, government data showed, during which China began taking dramatic measures to curb the spread of the virus, shutting transport links and asking millions of people to stay home.
The government has loosened restrictions in the past few weeks, which is encouraging consumers to venture back into malls and restaurants, albeit amid concerns over job security and potential wage cuts brought about by a struggling economy.
“Trade, tourism catering and other services not only help to prop up an economy’s growth, but also embody a city’s vitality,” financial magazine Yicai quoted Nanjing Chinese Communist Party Secretary Zhang Jinghua (張敬華) as saying early this month, days before the city announced that it would give away 318 million yuan worth of shopping coupons in a lottery-style scheme.
He stressed the need to grasp the balance between epidemic prevention and rehabilitation, and to create a safe and secure consumer environment.
The city later said it believed its move boosted consumption by nearly 10 million yuan in five days.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty
RSS