Registration for catering digital envelope lottery opens

The registration for the second round of digital red envelopes for catering consumption officially begins today and will last until Thursday noon, the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau said yesterday.

Shenzhen has planned to hand out 100 million yuan (US$14.81 million) in digital currency to consumers in the city through a lottery system to boost residents’ catering spending.

A screenshot of the registration page for digital red envelopes for catering consumption at WeChat miniprogram  “深圳新春红包.”

A total of 2.023666 million digital red envelopes, with the largest one containing 666 yuan in digital currency, would be given to lottery winners, according to the bureau. The first round of digital red envelopes were all given out Jan. 23.

Shenzhen citizens can register at the WeChat miniprogram “深圳新春红包.” Each lottery winner will receive a digital red envelope containing 28 yuan, 68 yuan, 168 yuan or 666 yuan.

It is noteworthy that those who have won in the lottery’s first round cannot sign up for the second round. The red envelopes’ validity is from the date of receipt to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 14. Overdue red envelopes will be recovered.

Lottery winners will be notified via WeChat messages before 2 p.m. Saturday. The digital red envelopes will be given out no later than 6 p.m. Saturday to the digital renminbi wallet the user’s mobile phone number is bound to.

Shenzhen’s catering business has shown strong rebound signs during the Spring Festival holiday, the city’s commerce bureau said.

According to the UnionPay consumption data report, during the Chinese New Year (CNY), Shenzhen’s catering sales exceeded 735.41 million yuan, up 25.93% year on year.

“Shenzhen’s catering industry has gradually recovered before the CNY. Judging from the feedback from catering businesses and enterprises, the industry shows strong signs of returning to the pre-pandemic Spring Festival catering levels,” said Liu Yongzhong, president of the Shenzhen Cuisine Association.

Foot traffic at the city’s major commercial areas had also gone up during the CNY, according to the commerce bureau.

Official data showed that the city’s 22 key commercial areas saw over 4.95 million visitors during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, up 12.05% from the same period last year. Commercial areas also registered sales over 565.87 million yuan during the period, up 4.64% year on year.