In an effort to boost consumption and accelerate market recovery, many cities in Guangdong such as Foshan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and Jiangmen have distributed a total of over 1 billion yuan worth of coupons. Guangdong has become one of the provinces with the largest number of cities issuing these kind of consumption stimulus vouchers on the Chinese mainland.

As the first city to offer coupons to residents in Guangdong, Foshan has given out a total of 100 million yuan’s worth since April 1st. The city’s districts including Nanhai, Shunde and Sanshui each issued additional e-coupons totalling between 30 million to 100 million yuan to local residents. Now, the city has been striving to maximize the use of these coupons, with the validity period extended to 11 days ( expiring April 30th).

As a result Foshan has seen a consumption boom in offline businesses such as catering services and beauty salons, which has also triggered the recovery of other industries.

According to the data of ‘Eleme’, an online food delivery platform, the number of newly-opened brick and mortar restaurants in the city has increased by more than 30%, and the volume of orders has also increased by more than 100%.

In Zhuhai, coupons will be distributed from April 25th to May 31st to residents and tourists visiting the city, redeemable for dining, shopping, hotel stays and other consumables.

Zhongshan kicked off their coupon distribution on April 20th, and the promotion will last for a month. The city is issuing 30 million yuan for the activity, of which 20 million yuan will be distributed as e-coupons for offline in-store use.

Dongguan residents can not only enjoy 100 million yuan of e-coupons from the government, but also a further whopping 400 million yuan from local merchants. Jiangmen will distribute coupon packages on the 8th, the 18th and the 28th of the month starting from April 28th. The total value of the packages exceeds 56 million yuan.

Many local authorities in the Greater Bay Area have issued digital coupons through third-party payment platforms like WeChat Pay and Alipay to offset some of the negative impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on consumption, and experts believe they will help in greatly boosting tourism, retail, catering and entertainment industries.

Authors: Will, Zoey (intern)

Editor: Simon