Online flower sales soar ahead of Qixi Festival

Fresh flowers are an integral part of romantic holidays. For this year’s Qixi Festival, more consumers are turning to online platforms to buy flowers as tokens of love, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

This year’s Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, falls today.

The majority of flower shops and wholesalers in Shenzhen, well aware of this new trend, are also moving their business online, allowing customers to place orders through apps, WeChat miniprograms, e-commerce sites and other online channels.

Some merchants have even created a WeChat group for releasing information related to flower varieties and prices on a daily basis.

Orders poured in since the end of July. “Due to COVID, many of our regular customers now prefer to order directly online and then we arrange delivery,” said a flower shop owner surnamed Qin.

Florists arrange flowers at a flower shop in Futian District yesterday. Sun Yuchen

A deliveryman working for on-demand shopping platform Meituan told Shenzhen Evening News that he would sprinkle water on the flowers to ensure they are still fresh and beautiful when he delivers to customers.

Many florists also started to sell flowers through livestreaming. During the livestream sales events, they will teach shoppers how to pick fresh-cut flowers and how to arrange flowers. The sellers will also offer promotional discounts to increase their customer base.

Prices of flowers sold online are almost the same as those sold in brick-and-mortar stores, according to the News report. However, customers have fewer options when they shop online because most of the online items are finished bouquets, which explained why offline stores are still bustling with enthusiastic customers.

At the flower stalls in Dutch Flower Town in Nanshan District on Tuesday, different varieties and colors of roses could be seen placed neatly on shelves for loverbirds to choose from. Wholesalers at the flower town told the News reporter that most of the fresh flowers sold in Shenzhen are from Yunnan Province and sold in bundles.

A florist in Dutch Flower Town in Nanshan District arranges a bouquet. DT News

Of all the fresh flowers, roses are the most popular and sold for higher prices. Roses of different varieties, based on their colors and shapes as well as whether their stems are straight and whether their foliages are clean, are classified into four grades and sold for different prices. For example, a bouquet of ordinary red roses can fetch 55 yuan (US$8.11), while a bouquet of Ecuadorian roses can go for hundreds of yuan.

To meet the increased demand of fresh flowers for the Qixi Festival, wholesalers at the flower town had stocked up flowers days ahead of the holiday and stored them in refrigerators. Besides the hot-selling roses, merchants have also included flowers such as tulips and baby’s breath in their inventory.

On Tuesday afternoon, the News reporter also witnessed a lively scene at the Bagualing flower market in Futian District. At a flower shop, a florist named Sharry was packing bouquets for customers. Sharry said it took about 30 minutes to complete an exquisitely designed flower combination as the whole process involves material selection, pruning, matching, tying and packaging. “A skilled florist can complete an average of about 40 bouquets per day,” Sharry said.

Florists have to work for over 10 hours a day and for days in a row to meet the exponential increase in demand for flowers during festivals, according to Sharry.

The Qixi Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month according to Chinese lunar calendar, is based on a romantic legend about a weaver girl and a cowherd. The festival was listed as an intangible cultural heritage by the State Council in 2006.