Shanghai's department stores, supermarkets and e-commerce platforms are all planning to boost consumption by many means such as discounts, restaurant coupons and reimbursement of taxi fares.

Alibaba's fresh food chain, Hema Fresh, encouraged customers to "redo Spring Festival shopping", offering discounts and coupons on flowers, seafood, fruit, meat, and semi-finished dishes which are commonly seen in restaurants in the New Year, as well as 15 percent discounts and online and offline coupons. The campaign is reported to have lasted from March 22 to 25.

"From the start of Hema Fresh's campaign, orders have steadily increased since the last week of February, and the proportion of goods such as seafood and imported fruits that were forgotten during the coronavirus epidemic have gradually returned to normal levels," said Yu Bing, general manager of Hema Fresh's branch store in Shanghai. "Since free shipping was restored on March 2, orders have increased by more than 25 percent."

On March 20, the omnichannel retailer Suning in Shanghai handed out 500 million yuan ($70.7 million) worth of shopping coupons to be used from March 27 to 29. The sales drive united more than 100 brands in launching a "home appliances and home decoration festival" in a bid to promote the overall recovery of the consumer market.

"In the past two weeks, the demand for computers and TV sets has been increasing, and we are also stocking up on food, with many consumers rushing to our store to use coupons," said a manager from Suning.