Chinese New Year: How the Holiday Affects the Mobile Repair Industry

Happy Chinese New Year! Today marks the beginning of the two week holiday in China celebrating the start of the new year. What does this mean for your business and the mobile repair industry? We're here to tell you just that, plus a little insight into what happens in Shenzhen.

During the month of February, our MDChina office, the manufacturers we work with, and the entire city of Shenzhen changes immensely. Starting this week, all factories and markets within the city shut down, including mobile repair part factories, to allow workers and owners to return home to their families.

Shenzhen is only about 40 years old with no real cultural background besides being a fishing village once upon a time, so surprisingly, no one who works in Shenzhen is really from Shenzhen. During this time, citizens will travel to their homes in the other parts of Guangdong, Guangzhou, and Dongguan. Here they’ll spend two weeks relaxing, catching up with family members, celebrating with festivals, and serving large banquets for their communities.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated with a specific event for most days, while the eve of the Chinese New Year day is the largest celebration. On New Year’s Eve, families will cook for each other or get traditional meals at restaurants, often including fish, dumplings, and citrus fruits. Another common tradition during Chinese New Year is to give red envelopes with money inside to children and younger unemployed family members.

As people get ready to celebrate, factories in Shenzhen begin to ramp down their production and liquidate their inventories. Once this product is sold through to the U.S. and other markets around the world, workers leave the city. That means that the once-busy urban sprawl of Shenzhen is completely empty. It becomes somewhat of an electronic dystopia.

Chinese New Year is a big deal for workers and families in China, but you might be wondering how this affects you and your store. Well, simply put, it shouldn’t, if your supplier has planned ahead. Since Shenzhen is abandoned, companies in the U.S. can’t order products until early March. Luckily we’ve been stocking up for months so we have the parts you need throughout this halt in production. Our stock levels have increased nearly 400% within the last three months, which puts us at record-breaking inventory levels - and ready to fulfill your orders.

The mobile repair industry hasn't always had the knowledge they needed to successfully keep repair shops stocked during this holiday. When this industry first came to fruition, U.S. companies weren’t aware of the break in production. Suppliers didn’t stock up on enough product, or raised prices to avoid running out. This meant that the small amount of repair stores around at the time were stuck with low inventory and in turn, low sales. Since the industry's early years, our purchasing algorithms have matured in order to make sure we’re always stocked, so that you can be, too.

This draught only lasts for the two weeks of Chinese New Year. Production in Shenzhen will return to normalcy on February 25th, and the markets will begin to reopen on March 1st. During this time, we’ll be able to resume our normal ordering schedule.

All in all, the Chinese New Year tends to change up a few things on our end, but due to our industry knowledge, you’ll continue to receive the product, the support, and the experience with Mobile Defenders you know and love.