Take the Expo home
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The flagship store near the Expo Axis in Zone B of the Expo Park boasts the richest variety of licensed products. Shoppers can find the most expensive souvenir gold bar and the cheapest Haibao balloon here.
As for young visitors, Expo badges are their favorite, said Yan Liang, operation director of the flagship store.
Expo badges are priced comparatively low and some of them are of limited edition – a reason they are especially favored, said Yan.
What's more, novel marketing strategies have been used to promote badge sales.
For example, to celebrate the Chinese Valentine's Day, the Qixi Festival that fell on August 16 this year, the Expo licensed products shops allocated special area for Qixi souvenir badges.
Outside the Expo
Expo souvenirs have also proved to be quite popular in stores outside the Expo Park. According to Xin, over 8,500 stores selling World Expo-licensed products have opened in China. By the end of July, the total sales volume of Expo products had hit 23.5 billion yuan (about $3.5 billion).
Starting from the middle of October last year, the expansion of Expo-licensed stores sped up in China. As many as 5,000 stores are currently operating in Shanghai with the rest scattered among China's other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, according to the licensed product department.
Even in the remote city of Lhasa, the capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, tourists can find two stores selling Expo souvenirs made of precious metals such as gold and silver.
At the same time, 15 foreign-funded retail chains, including Carrefour, Wal-Mart, RT-Mart and Auchan have signed contracts with Expo organizers to become licensed retailers of Expo souvenirs. Currently, these chains have about 200 stores selling Expo-licensed products in China.
Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Beijing have seen the highest sales of Expo products, said Xin. The upcoming end of the Expo means that the next two months will probably see a boom in sales in these cities and elsewhere. "We are confident that sales will increase dramatically in September and October," said Xin.
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