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Published on January 28, 2008

This week and next will be a hectic period for all Chinese families, who need to find items to worship the gods and their ancestors and gifts and edible items to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

A variety of products are available under one roof at all modern trade retail outlets. The products range from fresh food, fruit and desserts to clothes and fashion accessories, paper cutouts of all manner of things and paper money that the Chinese burn for their ancestors to use in the afterlife.

At Tesco Lotus, with 27 million customers a month, Little Chinatowns will be created at all branches, with about 100 paper items available this year, notably miniature notebooks, LCD screens and DVD players.

According to Tesco Lotus director and chief marketing officer Gwyn Sundhagul, the chain aims to launch the most extensive range of Chinese New Year food, decorations and ceremonial products up to New Year's Eve on February 6. The number of products on sale has been increased by more than 30 per cent from last year.

"Chinese New Year is a very important time of the year for us and a time when we reach out to our Chinese and Chinese-Thai customers to offer them authentic Chinatown displays and a variety of goods in a convenient, relaxed and cool hypermarket environment. We can guarantee exceptional value, as we actively check 10,000 prices every week to ensure nobody is beating us there," said Gwyn.

Jira Kornantakiat, a specialist in Chinese tradition, is helping customers choose the correct foods and products for the occasion.

Big C Supercentre has joined the Internal Trade Department's cheap-goods campaign and offers specials at its 54 branches on over 500 items from Thursday.

"During the campaign our products will be priced 5 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper than market prices," said Jariya Chirathivat, vice president for marketing and communications at Big C.

All necessary items for the religious ceremonies on Chuyi, February 6, are available in sets, with prices ranging from less than Bt400 to over Bt2,000.

Food sets are also available at other retail outlets like Carrefour.

"We have a wide range of products. We have paper money for sale from today," an officer at Carrefour said on Friday.

Though most Thais are mourning for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, red costumes, the colour of prosperity, are expected to sell well. On February 6, 7 and 8, Chinese are traditionally barred from wearing black at the risk of seeing their luck disappear for the whole year.

It is estimated that 14 per cent of Thailand's population are of Chinese descent and will be shopping specifically for the New Year.

Aside from clothes and ritual items, shopping malls are bullish that the festival will spur spending in general. By dint of a variety of entertainment activities, the Mall Group expects spending at The Mall branches, Siam Paragon and The Emporium to reach Bt3 billion from Bt1.8 billion last year as consumers flush with red gift envelopes and salaries have ample cash to spend.

Several retailers are jumping on the band wagon by launching campaigns in cooperation with credit cards for products that have nothing to do with the festival.

For example, customers using Citibank credit cards at the outlets of the Mall Group will receive a Bt800 Red Earth voucher for every Bt6,000 spent.

At HomePro, besides discounts of up to 70 per cent, buyers will be entitled to a special bonus. For every Bt23,000 purchase they will receive a Bt500 voucher. When paying with an HSBC card, shoppers will get a Bt700 gift voucher for every Bt25,000 purchase.

From January 24 to February 10, a number of items are on offer at Central department store with 30- to 70-per-cent discounts. From February 6-10 every purchase of Bt1,000 will win a lucky-draw coupon for gold pendants worth in all Bt1.3 million. HSBC cardholders will win two coupons for each Bt1,000.

The Nation