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YULETIDE EAST

From Hong Kong to Malaysia, Christmas shopping is catching on

By Susan Thorne

A 70-foot Christmas tree heralds the arrival of the Yuletide shopping season at Hong Kong’s Pacific Place.

It’s December, and at Pacific Place the approach of Christmas is unmistakable with red and gold decorations and a lavishly lighted 70-foot Christmas tree reaching to the peak of the entrance atrium. Children are having their pictures taken with Santa, and shoppers are feted with take-away gifts and sales redemption programs. Special events in the common area include school choir performances and a charitable fund-raiser.

This might seem a typical scene in a mall this time of year, except that Pacific Place is in Hong Kong.

Christianity is a minority religion here, but Christmastime is nevertheless enthusiastically observed with celebrations, gift-giving and shopping. And the same goes for much of the rest of southeastern Asia, where the appeal of this imported holiday has surmounted differences of culture and faith to become a fixture; recently, it has even been finding favor in Taiwan and China.

But observance of the Yuletide season seems to thrive best in tolerant multicultural environments like those of Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Malaysia’s mix of ethnicities and religions — 53 percent Muslim, 25 percent Buddhist, and 22 percent Hindu and Christian, according to The Collins International Yearbook — is reflected in the official calendar: Dec. 25 is a public holiday, and some Malaysian state leaders and cabinet ministers host Christmas open house receptions at their residences, while similar celebrations also mark Muslim Hari Raya, Hindu Deepavali and the Chinese New Year.

The holiday season this year is a particularly busy time for the shopping industry in Malaysia, with Christmas and Hari Raya falling close to each other. Private parties and gift-giving to celebrate Christmas are customary, said Eric Eoon, manager of the Lot Ten Shopping Center, Kuala Lumpur, though he said these tend to be associated with an urban lifestyle. This year Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, started in November and Hari Raya, a celebration marking the end of the monthlong Ramadan fast, falls on Dec. 16 and 17.

“So the shopping season will start early,” Eoon said. “Even though Muslims observe Ramadan as a period of thrift, there will be shopping activity, especially in urban areas,” he said. Jewelry, books, CDs, ties, apparel and cosmetics are popular gift choices. The pattern is similar in Singapore, Eoon said, with its mix of Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and others.

In Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population (95 percent of the country’s total population of 228 million), celebrations and decorations for Christmas tend to be more low-key, but the prevalence of Islam does not rule out observance of Dec. 25. In Jakarta, celebratory decorations are centralized in the major malls such as Taman Anggrek mall, Citraland Mall or Plaza Senayan Mall, said Yanto Chandra, research executive with Frank Small & Associates marketing and research consultants, Jakarta. “In these places, one will always observe grandiose Christmas decorations to celebrate the season, coupled with ubiquitous discounts and sales,” he said. Hari Raya remains the biggest shopping season, however, Chandra noted.

In Hong Kong, Christmas is a widely embraced holiday season celebrated by the majority of residents, said Elaine Tsui, public affairs spokeswoman for Swire Properties, Hong Kong, owner of Pacific Place. Hong Kong Harbour is transformed at night with bright lights and illuminated messages, many of them on buildings along the waterfront. Gift-giving at Christmas is a major shopping focus; while Swire does not share retail sales statistics from its centers, Tsui said there is a significant sales increase during December.

But in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia with large ethnic Chinese populations, Christmas must compete for the consumer shopping dollar with the Lunar New Year, which falls in January or February. Chinese tradition dictates that having new apparel, shoes and other items will ensure good fortune in the New Year, so this holiday also stimulates spending. The pre-Christmas period and the transitional time between Christmas and the Lunar New Year are two of the three biggest annual shopping peaks in Hong Kong — the third is the June, July, August period — according to Swire Properties.

While Christmas is celebrated as a secular occasion in much of Asia, in the Philippines it is taken even more seriously, with its predominantly Christian population (90 percent Catholic).

“We are the one Asian country that really believes in Santa,” quipped Winnie Nazareth, head of marketing and business development for the Makati-based Ayala Land, a leading Philippine developer with three super-regional malls. The Philippines share a number of North American practices inherited through its close historical ties with the United States, and Christmas is celebrated with at least the exuberance displayed in Western communities. Ayala’s Makati Mall and the streets around it are renowned for their Christmas lighting displays that go up in mid-November; the city of Makati has a contest among businesses for the best nativity scene rendered in lights, some of which are as high as 10 stories. A big retail shopping season starts very early, with mall sales promotions beginning in late October, Nazareth said. December retail sales normally run about three times higher than monthly sales averaged over 12 months, with toys, apparel and dining out the leading retail spending categories.

Yuletide cheer has been spreading recently to the two Chinas, where a selective observance of some Christmas customs is emerging. Dec. 25 is, coincidentally, national Constitution Day in Taiwan. Christmas lights and other decorations are seen at downtown Taipei stores from early December, although the holiday hasn’t caught on yet with everyone, said Calvin Wang, managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle, Taipei.

“It’s mostly observed by members of the younger generation who are urban, highly educated, and more international,” he said. “They might buy gifts for lovers or for immediate family members.”

More than 25 percent of the year’s retail sales are made in December and January, Wang said, and around 45 percent between October and January.

Christmas has been catching on in mainland China in the last five or six years as acceptance of Western culture has grown. Young urbanites are more open and receptive to Western ways, encouraged by travel abroad and by the growing presence of foreign-owned businesses at home, said Renee Ting, senior vice president of marketing for Pacific Century Plaza, a 73,000-square-meter (785,772-square-foot) mall that opened in Beijing in October.

“Ten years ago the Hard Rock Cafe here in Beijing had very few Chinese customers — maybe only 10 percent while the great majority were foreigners,” Ting said. “Now when you go there, you see 99 percent Chinese.”

Fuelled by this trend, in the last five or six years Christmas shopping has become a notable phenomenon in larger Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, where many stores are decorated with a Christmas theme, though not as lavishly as in North America; Tienanmen Square is brightened with lights in the trees in December. Retail sales in the period around Dec. 25 now run 20 percent to 30 percent higher than the average level over 12 months, Ting said, with Christmas gift-giving and partying popular among young and affluent urbanites.

“This is not enjoyed by the mass of the population,” she noted. The Chinese New Year remains the major spending season, with sales two to five times greater than those for Christmas-related purchases, according to Pacific Century data.

Other Western holidays associated with retail spending spikes are gaining popularity in China, too.

“Chinese young people are crazy about Valentine’s Day,” said Ting. While flowers rather than candy are the gift of choice on this occasion, the Chinese are enthusiastic about one particular innovation that has yet to catch on in the West: Valentine’s Day pizza at the local Pizza Hut.

 

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