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What brands entering Tmall Global should keep in mind is that being present on a platform is necessary but usually not sufficient. Many brands that enter China still struggle to localize effectively, connect with Chinese consumers, or translate that presence into meaningful loyalty and repeat purchase.
2. Chinese New Year 2025 & 2026: Travel and Spending Bounce Back
Cross border spending isn’t just happening online. Winter’s most important holiday period – Chinese New Year (CNY) – demonstrated the power of festive commerce as a spending accelerator abroad last year.
Digital payments provider Alipay showed a surge in both outbound travel spending during the CNY period. Chinese outbound travel transactions across the Alipay+ network rose approximately 30% year-on-year, with Singapore (+56%), Japan (+40%), Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR and South Korea ranking among the top destinations for spending.
Another success from last year’s CNY is also worth noting: Alipay’s flagship Fortune Cards Campaign attracted around 600 million unique participants, bringing cumulative engagement across its decade-long run to over 1 billion consumer interactions.
This year’s Spring Festival holiday is the longest yet in China, which is seeing last year’s momentum build further. Bookings for flights grew 55% and hotels 71% according to Fliggy data.
Bookings for Türkiye, New Zealand, Australia, and Vietnam more than doubled compared to last Spring Festival.
This combination of travel and digital participation suggests that festival commerce is not just about retail “discount sales” – it’s an ecosystem that includes cross-border tourism, digital traditions (AR, interactive campaigns), and offline shareable experiences. Brands can reach Chinese consumers both at home and while on holiday with the right strategy.
What This Means for Brands Targeting China
These trends reinforce several strategic themes for brands looking beyond domestic ecommerce into sustained China growth:
A. Cross-Border Entry Is Just the Beginning
China’s import ecommerce boom is real, but simply opening a store doesn’t guarantee traction. Brands must pair their entry with localized positioning, compelling seasonal campaigns, and culturally relevant storytelling if they want to convert curiosity into loyalty.
B. Festive Consumer Journeys Are Expanding Into Travel
CNY is less about single-day promotions and more about extended travel, experiences, and digital rituals. Brands that engage consumers before, during and after the holiday – whether through paid media, digital community touchpoints, interactive campaigns (like the Fortune Cards) or travel-linked promotions – will benefit from higher engagement and wider top-of-mind presence.
C. Seasonal and Cultural Relevance Trumps Generic Offers
Discounts still matter, but campaigns that resonate with identity, ritual and emotion are becoming more impactful. Chinese consumers – especially younger cohorts – increasingly expect culturally tuned activations that feel personal, experiential, and social. CNY travel spending, without currency exchange friction thanks to cross-border mobile payments, exemplifies how travel and commerce are converging to create richer brand engagements.
So What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the real competitive edge will come from brands that treat China not as a single “market,” but as a collection of culturally diverse consumer ecosystems, each with its own festive calendars, travel trends, and digital behaviours.
Whether it’s leveraging cross-border ecommerce to launch premium self-care brands, tapping travel habits to build affinity, or designing CNY campaigns that bridge online and offline moments, success will depend on holistic consumer journey activation rather than isolated promotional bursts.
If you want to explore how these holiday insights and cross-border signals can inform your China strategy, and transform them into action, China Skinny is here to help.