(Yicai) May 7 -- The Shanghai May 5 Shopping Festival has developed into a comprehensive consumption promotional event that integrates culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions, with various activities across the city attracting thousands of residents and tourists.

The festival, which kicked off late on April 30 and ran through May 5, featured more than a hundred activities, including the Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival and three other distinctive intellectual property-based events.

The coffee extravaganza included an outdoor fair along the 2.3-kilometer riverside at the North Bund. Going beyond simply "selling coffee," it represented Shanghai's soft power as the city with the most coffee shops worldwide, while also embodying the "waterfront," "nighttime," and "first store" economies.

"Other coffee festivals we have attended tend to attract die-hard coffee geeks, but the Shanghai coffee festival is different; it seems to appeal to everyone," said the owner of a Swedish coffee brand, which took part in the event last year.

The coffee festival was not confined to the North Bund but also created a "distinctive" coffee culture map in Shanghai's 16 districts and the Lingang Special Area. The events brought together nearly 200 top international brands, supply chain companies, and over 6,000 merchants.

For example, Hongkou district launched four themed roaming routes and opened custom bus lines for sightseeing tours, with each route starting from the main venue of the coffee festival, connecting the district's specialty food, performances, and high-quality hotels while providing consumers with a one-stop solution for various activities, including sightseeing, shopping, entertainment, and accommodation.

In addition, the coffee festival has formed a synergy with other consumption activities held during the May 5 Shopping Festival, such as the Equestrian Championship and the Table Tennis Business District Carnival. A person might get a voucher to buy home appliances on East Nanjing Road in the morning, go to the North Bund to drink coffee and watch the light show in the afternoon, and visit the business districts to watch table tennis matches in the evening.

These activities provide consumers with an "all-day, multi-scenario, and combinable" consumption ecosystem.

Shanghai was one of the first cities to systematically promote and implement the model integrating culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions, Zhan Yubo, deputy director of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Economics, told Yicai. It has become one of the most influential cities in this regard nationwide, Zhan noted.

During the May 5 Shopping Festival, the organizers integrated exhibitions and cultural and consumption festivals, creating a super IP effect, Zhan noted. For example, the coffee festival combined coffee, e-sports, music, and business district activities, with the city hosting table tennis, equestrian, and other sports events at Nanjing Road and Qiantan business district, also known as the New Bund, providing people with an integrated venue for watching sports, shopping, dining, and relaxing, significantly increasing the customer flow in business districts, Zhan added.

The customer flow in Shanghai's business districts jumped more than 15 percent on May 1 from a year ago.

Shanghai's consumption promotional activities are shifting from "efforts in single points" to "system integration," Zhan said. Shopping and coffee festival, equestrian events, table tennis matches, and nightlife activities are organically embedded, creating an interwoven consumption ecosystem that attracts more consumers, Zhan pointed out.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev