Selfridges offers special products, retail-tainment for Chinese New Year

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 22, 2019

Selfridges has become the latest luxury name to launch a Chinese New Year campaign, the difference in this case being that the company is securely anchored in the UK rather than having stores in China itself. But Chinese Shoppers are hugely important to the retailer with the London flagship in particular being a magnet for affluent tourists from that country.

So the new campaign, dubbed New Year, New Beginnings, is celebrating with ”special initiatives and extraordinary services across all stores, as well as a wide selection of unique and exclusive gifts and a host of personalised product.”

The company has come up with what it calls an "irresistible edit of new season fashion from the most-hyped labels and iconic designer brands,” as well as “make-up must-haves and stylish homeware.” Everything being promoted is available in its London, Manchester and Birmingham stores and its webstore, the latter being particularly important for those Chinese celebrants not travelling this year.

And shoppers can pay for the items using Alipay in-store and online or with WeChat Pay, which is now also available at all till points throughout Selfridges’ stores.

The celebration is happening from January 30 until February 7 with in-store activities and interactions, “as a multitude of brands and artists participate to provide personalised products, complimentary engraving, tutorials and more.”

The company said the highlights include Chinese calligraphy and knot-making tutorials, personalised fashion illustrations from Etta Shon, shoebox customisation from Mr Lee, Aspinal and Smythson offering complimentary personalisation on all purchased leathergoods and Atelier Cologne offering a complimentary personalised leather case with every purchase.

There will also be lipstick personalisation from Armani, free gifts for Kiehl’s customers spending over £95, message engraving onto products by Estée Lauder, and initial stamping onto fragrance by Clive Christian.

And the company seems to have been careful to launch initiatives that will appeal beyond the Chinese demographic to Selfridges' customers from other countries and also local shoppers.

The core piece of the Chinese-focused campaign is a specially commissioned editorial film by Hong Kong-born and London-based photographer Alexandra Leese. The film, featuring both Mandarin and English monologues, gives five London-based Chinese creatives “the opportunity to explore the meaning of Chinese New Year through their unique personal experiences.” They include Tin Gao, Max Day, Faye Wei Wei, Alistair Wong and Tiffany Chan, a textile designer, contemporary dancer, painter, poet and illustrator respectively.

The campaign is based on four main themes - Self- Expression, New Traditions, Union and Looking Forward, “focusing on people coming together, how individuals celebrate Chinese New Year and the investment into one’s future.”