Virtual red packets are most popular way to gift money in China as digital disruption hits tradition, survey finds
About 80pc of respondents in the mainland will opt for electronic red packets versus 69pc who will stick to physical envelopes
Digital disruption to tradition in mainland China has become more apparent than ever with the increasing popular use of electronic red packets to gift money, compared with Hong Kong’s preferred use of physical lai see envelopes, according to findings of a survey released on Tuesday.
About 80 per cent of respondents in the mainland said they would choose to send red packets, or lai sees as they are known in Hong Kong, via Tencent Holdings’ social messaging app WeChat, the survey by market research firm Lightspeed Research found.
This was trailed by the 69 per cent of respondents in the mainland who would opt for physical red packets. Gifting money in red envelopes symbolises sending wishes of good fortune in the Chinese culture, commonly practised during the Lunar New Year and other auspicious Chinese events such as weddings and birthdays.
The survey also found that 31 per cent of mainland respondents opted to use Alipay – the mobile payment of Ant Financial, backed e-commerce giant Alibaba Holding Group – to send their virtual red packets.
Lightspeed conducted the online survey from January 24 to 28 on a total of about 900 consumers in the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to learn more about their consumption behaviour in the upcoming Year of the Dog celebration. The survey also covered 600 respondents in Singapore and Malaysia.