Qixi, or the Chinese Valentine’s Day which falls on August 28 this year, is just days away.
8月28日的七夕—中国情人节马上就要到了。
Love it or loathe it, it’s always prime gift-buying time.
不管你爱不爱它，但是这一天你总免不了要买一些礼物。
High-end luxury brands are turning simultaneously to online platforms offering their limited-time sales of special-edition items for this widely celebrated Chinese holiday.
高端奢侈品牌为迎接广受欢迎的中国节日，开始转向在线平台，定制七夕限量版产品。
On August 15, Dior offered a new handbag, from the Dioramour series, exclusively on WeChat the popular instant messaging network. With the French fashion brand ambassador Angelababy being featured in this online campaign, it appeared that all the bags have been sold already.
8月15日，迪奥在时下流行的即时通讯网络微信平台推出了Dioramour系列新款手袋，从。法国时尚品牌大使Angelababy在本次网络活动中亮相，所有的包袋均已售空。
Dior was the first luxury brand to launch a campaign on WeChat platform during last year’s Qixi Festival. And one year later, more than ever are joining the club for this day of love, and of course gift shopping.
去年的七夕节，迪奥是第一个在微信平台上发起活动的奢侈品牌。一年之后，相比以往更多的品牌加入了七夕定制阵营，当然这其中包括售卖礼物品牌。
As early as on August 9, Valentino became the first luxury brand to offer its special edition this year, with their Rockstud Spike bag. Many Chinese celebrities, including luxury darling Fan Bingbing, have been invited to the fashion house to promote the handbag.
早在8月9日，华伦天奴就首当其冲的推出其奢侈品牌的七夕定制版Rockstud Spike包。许多中国名人都被邀请到时尚之家宣传这个手袋，包括贵妇范冰冰。
Also, an exhibition called "I love Spike" has been presented in its boutique in Beijing, in an effort to move the online buzz to the offline experience.
此外，一个名为“我爱Spike”的展会也在北京的专柜推出，旨在将网上的购买热潮转移到线下体验上。
In honor of this year’s special day, Spanish fashion brand Loewe has designed "Hearts" Barcelona bags exclusively for China’s online shoppers after announcing its partnership with Tmall, Alibaba Group’s B2C shopping site. This marks the LVMH-owned luxury house’s first venture into China’s e-commerce market. The only 99 bags decorated with red hearts were reportedly sold out.
为了纪念今年这个特殊日子，西班牙时尚品牌Loewe在宣布与阿里巴巴集团旗下的B2C购物网站天猫合作后，专门为中国网络购物者设计了心爱系列Barcelona手袋。这标志LVMH集团旗下西班牙奢侈品牌Loewe首次在中国“触网”。据报道，仅有99只的由红心装饰的手袋已全部卖光。
Chloe has kicked off its WeChat sale this year with an offer of a blue Faye Day bag in collaboration with Mr. Bags. The campaign features its brand ambassador Tiffany Tang, among other well-known fashionable figures in China. According to fashion site LadyMax, on August 10 on which the handbag was offered, all the 85 were sold out.
Chloe今年与包先生合作通过微信平台推出云雾蓝七夕限量款Faye Day手袋。特色品牌大使由蒂芙尼.唐及中国其他知名时尚人士担任。据时尚网站LadyMax网站介绍，这款手袋8月10日在网络上开始销售，目前85个手袋已经售罄。
China’s e-tailing market: Too big to ignore
中国的电子零售市场：太大而不能忽视
An increasing number of luxury brands are now jumping into the country’s five trillion yuan (751 billion US dollars) e-retail market, hoping to woo the hundreds of millions of Chinese shoppers to buy their big-ticket luxury handbags and haute couture.
越来越多的奢侈品牌正瞄准并进入市场容量约5万亿元(7510亿美元)的电商平台，希望通过此举吸引数以亿计的中国消费者购买他们的高价奢侈手袋和高级定制时装。
Fearing of brand dilution, luxury brands have long been wary of adopting any kind of e-commerce sales, said Mario Ortelli, a senior luxury goods analyst with Bernstein Co. However, as the emerging markets’ development slows and the revenue growth slows down, it’s imperative for these companies to undergo reform and strengthen marketing, he added.
由于担心品牌的稀释，奢侈品牌一直谨慎的采用任何形式的电子商务进行销售，高级奢侈品与伯恩斯坦公司分析师Mario Ortelli说。然而，随着新兴市场的发展放缓及收入增长的降低，这些奢侈品牌必须进行改革以加强营销，他补充说。
No matter it’s integrating into WeChat, pushing marketing campaigns on Weibo, or opening their own storefronts on Tmall.com or JD.com, statistics has shown that over 70 percent of major luxury brands have digitalized their commerce in China, as per Chinese commercial and real estate research center RET’s report.
无论它是整合到微信还是在微博上推广其营销活动，抑或是在天猫或京东上开设自己的店面，统计数据显示，超过70%的主要奢侈品牌在中国都有数字化的商业模式，就像中国的商业和房地产研究中心的报告一样。
Although revenues from online sales are currently small, just five percent of China’s 22.5 billion domestic luxury market, they are growing fast, up 20 percent year-on-year, according to report by business intelligence firm L2.
根据商业情报公司L2的报告，尽管目前在线销售收入较低，仅占中国225亿国内奢侈品市场的5%，但增长迅速，同比增长达到20%。
Mobile plays an increasingly vital role. Searches for luxury brands conducted on cell phones are nearly double those done on a desktop, said the report.
移动客户端扮演着越来越重要的角色。该报告称，在手机上进行的奢侈品牌搜索量几乎是台式机上的两倍。
Online campaigns for brand promotion
网络品牌推广活动
Other than how many and how much the handbags were sold at, luxury brands are looking for more, especially how their digital campaign has created a buzz on the Internet and promoted the brand as a whole as a result.
除了这些手袋的售价和价格，奢侈品牌还在寻找更多途径推广产品，尤其是如何将他们的数字广告在互联网上制造轰动效应，并将整个品牌提升为一个整体。
When Dior launched their first WeChat campaign designed for last year’s Qixi Festival on August 1 midnight, the news that fashion house Dior has become the first in China to sell luxury goods on the uncharted realm of WeChat has become viral overnight and sparked wide discussions.
当迪奥于去年8月1日凌晨推出他们首次微信活动时，关于迪奥成为首个在中国微信平台处女地进行销售的奢侈品牌的消息一经传出，就引发行业的广泛讨论。
Another example is that all the 80 limited-edition handbags designed by Givenchy and Mr. Bags for Valentine’s Day were sold out in 12 minutes, creating another wave of discussion.
另一个例子是，由纪梵希和包先生联合推出的80个情人节限量版手袋在12分钟内被抢一空，这也引发了另一波讨论。
As a consequence, this move has prompted a series of following steps by other brands, bringing a remarkable change to the entire industry. As a report by China’s e-commerce research center CECARC has revealed, although three-fourth of luxury goods purchase took place in stores, as a matter fact, customers were firstly influenced by online information.
因此，这一举措促使其他品牌也纷纷效仿，给整个奢侈品行业带来了巨大变化。中国电子商务研究中心CECARC的报告显示，尽管三分之一的奢侈品买卖是在实体店里进行，但事实上，顾客首先受到在线信息的影响。
In other words, the digital channel is guiding luxury buyers to boutiques.
换句话说，数字渠道现已成为奢侈品购物的领航先导。
