How do Chinese Male Consumers Prepare for Qixi?

Qixi, or Chinese Valentine’s Day has become a big marketing day for many brands. Just like Western Valentine’s Day, it is a festival for sending gifts and going on romantic dates. While there are a lot of articles and LinkedIn posts sharing clever Qixi brand campaigns, here we’re going to share some consumer insights around the holiday from a recent CBNdata report. Specifically, we’ll highlight how China’s male consumers prepare for this holiday, which is important, considering they’re likely the ones spending the most money for Qixi.

When do men start preparing for the festival?

It is estimated that 27.1% of men start preparing only 1-2 weeks ahead. 15.4% of them start before 2-4 weeks, and there is a small group of men start preparing even a month ahead. One third of the men surveyed (34.7%) had no intention to prepare ahead and just want to let it go naturally.

In terms of different relationship statuses, married men and dads have the least intention to prepare gifts for wives, while men who are in a relationship but unmarried are most active in the preparation. (no surprise here hahah)

Key takeaway:

• Create multiple campaigns with different messaging and launch them at different times based on the age and relationship status of your target consumers

Selecting restaurants

The number 1 element that has the power for men to choose restaurants for Qixi dates is whether the restaurant serves dishes that match with their taste. This is 49.5% of men’s top reason for choosing a restaurant. Following this, men also want to know the cost performance of the restaurants (46.1%) and whether it has been mentioned by their partners (34%).

Men are also prepared to wait in line for the dinner on the day. Only 18.1% of men don’t want to wait. Heads up for brands, waiting might be a beautiful thing to show one’s sincerity. Half an hour, I think this is the longest period that most people would be open to waiting, beyond that, they might get annoyed.

Key Takeaway:

• Think about what men want to eat when promoting your holiday menus! haha

Where do men seek advice on gifts?

When Qixi is around the corner, men tend to seek advice on selecting gifts on different online platforms. 13.8% of men visit Hupu (虎扑, a sports information platform), Douban (豆瓣, a forum platform) and Zhihu (知乎, a forum platform as well).

When men are searching what to buy for women, the most frequent phrase they type is 七夕 (Qixi), followed by 礼物 (gifts), 七夕礼物 (gifts for Qixi), 口红 (lipsticks), 精致 (sophisticated) and so on. A phrase that is worth noticing is 面子 or face, meaning the gift can help the man earn dignity and have his partner worship him for choosing a good gift.

Key takeaway:

• Brands should incorporate these keywords in their product names and descriptions as well and KOL posts on social media to help to get more exposure for the products you would like to promote during the holiday.

• Work with KOLs on platforms that male consumers are most likely to use.

Men love gifting entry luxury products

52.1% of men go for entry luxury products on this big day. They don’t cost as much as high-end luxury, but they are not cheap either, which shows their sincerity. In a word, this is a safe choice for many men.

Following this, 38.1% of men choose international brands. Though Chinese brands are developing fast, yet only 12.5% of men buy them as gifts.

What I think about this is that the majority of Chinese consumers choose domestic brands mostly for their own daily activities, but when it comes to festivals, domestic brands may not be their first choice to send as gifts. Time for domestic brands to think about how to win more attention in such big gifting-focused festivals, and for international brands to grasp the opportunity to get more exposure and boost sales.

Key takeaway:

• For entry lux brands, this festival is a huge opportunity. If you have limited resources, it may be more relevant to focus on marketing for this holiday than some of China’s many other holidays and shopping festivals.

What gifts do girls love to receive?

While this article is focused on male consumers, the report also had some great insights on females’ preferred Qixi gifts that can help you select which items to include in your Qixi collections next year.

The top 5 gifts that girls love to receive are watches and accessories, red pockets, shoes/apparels/bags, skincare products, and makeup products.

You may have already noticed, that while one of the top searched gifting terms for men is lipstick, lipstick actually doesn’t appear on women’s TOP5 list. This is because women are picky when it comes to shades of lipsticks, and they often don’t like the shade that men select for them. Well, if men buy a whole set, that’s another story.

The other two of the TOP 3 least-liked gifts from men are snacks and toys.

Also, 44.3% of girls don’t directly tell their partners what gifts they want to receive. They feel that gifts can show whether the man is detailed-orientated when he’s with her and pays attention to what she says and does or how she usually dresses. It’s a test for the man. If girls don’t tell their boyfriends what to buy, then who to tell boys? The Internet. So, brands, improve your SEO and get as much as exposure before the festival, especially when it’s around the corner.