To boost local residents’ spending during challenging times and encourage them to stay put for the upcoming May Day holiday, Shenzhen announced yesterday it is giving out its residents a new batch of electronic shopping vouchers with a total value of 500 million yuan (US$76.3 million) starting today.
The vouchers will be disbursed in phases through e-commerce platforms Meituan and JD.com, the city’s commerce bureau announced in a press release.
The move is part of 30 relief measures announced by the city government March 25 to assist COVID-affected businesses in overcoming operational and financing challenges.
Residents can apply for a total of 400 million yuan in shopping vouchers, 60 million yuan in catering vouchers, 10 million yuan in tourism and sports vouchers, and 30 million yuan in e-CNY coupons from today.
On Meituan, residents can find discount coupons for dining in restaurants, food delivery, hotels and B&Bs, domestic tourist attractions, as well as fitness and gyms via searching “乐购深圳消费券” and “深圳消费券.”
The vouchers are scheduled to be given out to people on a first-come, first-served basis in four rounds. The first round begins from noon today and the other rounds will start at noon May 5, 12 and 19, respectively.
The coupons can only be spent in local shops and businesses who have signed up for the program. The catering vouchers will be valid for seven days after being issued and vouchers for culture, sports and tourism are valid for 14 days.
Shopping vouchers worth 400 million yuan will be given out via “深圳消费券” on the JD.com app starting from 10 a.m. May 1.
The vouchers can be used to purchase electronic products, apparel and accessories, gold and jewelry. Well-known brands, including Huawei, HONOR, DJI, Skyworth and KONKA, have signed up for the program.
The JD.com vouchers will be distributed in four phases on a first-come, first-served basis. The other three phases will kick off at 10 a.m. May 17 and 28, and June 30, respectively.
A new citywide round of e-CNY vouchers worth 30 million yuan is expected to be jointly issued by the commerce bureau and banks in late May.