Chinese girl #6: How do girls live well in China?
Whilst the Chinese valentines just passed by, I'd like to write about what kinds of Gifts chinese girls like to receive.
After viewing my flooded social feeds for a day, I can definitey say that the top two most shared gifts are flowers and soft toys.
Soft toys
I've received many flowers in the past, but the one that left the deepest impression is from Roseonly. The first time I saw Roseonly, I thought they were very pretty, but it was their advert and motto which kept Roseonly fresh in my memory, "Only one person, one life". After that, I went online and researched this brand and found that it was a Chinese designer florist specialising in high end flowers.
In my opinion, they have positioned themselves very well and leveraged their image to their advantage in their marketing campaigns. But importantly, it is their sales pitch that gives them a clear cut advantage.
Roseonly was founded in Jan 4th, 2013. Their unique proposition is how they go about selling their flowers. The male customers must provide their proof of identity and the name of the recipient of flowers. From henceforth, only that same recipient can receive flowers from this guy. Of course, any business with such a quick rise to success can be attributed to the good support they received and Roseonly is no different. Infact, Roseonly was rumoured to be the idea of a popular male chinese celebrity. Along with it's launch, there was a sudden influx of social media pictures showing stars that had given or received Roseonly and very quickly, the rest of the internet celebrities started showing pictures of them receiving Roseonly too. At the height of its popularity around 3 years ago, you would be hard pressed to visit weibo, or wechat and find posts about any other flowers other than Roseonly. There were even inside competitions on who received the most Roseonly.
The price of Roseonly is 520, 699, 999, 1314 RMB. These prices actually have some additional meaning, for example 520. If you say 520 in chinese, it sounds like "wo ai ni" which is "I love you". 699 and 999 represent long and everlasting. 1314 in chinese is "yi san yi si' which is close to the meaning of one life time. Of course, alot of people have been shocked by the prices of Roseonly which are by any means not cheap. When it comes to this, I have to sympathise with my male friends, because to some girls the prices may just be a number but historically, it has always been the guys to spend money buying flowers for the girls, and for the average working class, it is definitely on the expensive side. The important thing for girls is that the more expensive the flowers, the better it is because it represents the sincerity and strength of the mans love.
Even though Roseonly is priced very high, it does have some really good reasons to. For instance, they use roses from the finest crops in Ecuador, and each and every one is prepared by hand. They also have a very careful transport procedure to ensure the flowers reach their destination in the best condition possible. To the consumer, they have a unique selling proposition that seems expensive and yet fair at the same time. I can't personally say whether the brand is truly good as I'm no floral expert, but I do love flowers and I will admit that receiving Roseonly flowers brings an extra bit of joy.
Good view ibto the culture of gifts in China. This was a good read. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! :)