Why These 10 Brands Chose Merch Over Discounts for CNY
The Chinese New Year is all about gestures - exchanging red envelopes, eating and displaying tangerines, hosting family reunion dinners, launching fireworks, and, of course, giving gifts.
Nobody visits a relative empty-handed during CNY. It's how people wish each other a good year.
And brands have caught on to this as well.
Instead of running a sale, they're now turning to unique merchandise. Think charms, plush toys, playing cards, and more.
This strategy has proven quite rewarding. In February 2026, Singapore's retail sales rose 11.2% year-over-year in February 2026 on the back of Chinese New Year, with supermarkets up 29.3% and department stores up 16.8%
That's proof enough that CNY drives significant retail spending, and merch is a great way for brands to claim a bigger share of it.
In this article, we'll walk through 10 real CNY merchandise activations, from MLB and Hermès to Starbucks and Nike. For each one, we'll break down what the merch was, how customers got it, and the mechanic behind it.
1. MLB's Complimentary Shoe Charm GWP for Buyers
In Chinese lore, the rabbit is the gentlest animal, known for strength, diplomacy, and refined taste. It wins people over with grace instead of force, which is exactly what CNY merch is all about.
MLB leaned into this concept for its Year of the Rabbit campaign. But there was a catch. While it's not difficult to get a customer to buy shoes during CNY, how do you make this simple purchase feel festive?
MLB did this by offering a complimentary shoe charm on any shoe purchase, along with limited-edition red packets.
The charm itself was small, but well made. It featured a rabbit character in a pink bandana and pink sunglasses, rendered in gold hard enamel and fixed to a gold loop so it clips right onto the shoelace. It was a small, tasteful product, much like the rabbit’s own subtle reputation.
A free rabbit shoe charm came bundled with every shoe purchase during MLB's Year of the Rabbit CNY push. Source: Gumtoo.
Why does this gift with purchase (GWP) work? Because once the charm is clipped on the shoe, it keeps extending customer engagement with the brand long after the sale is made.
In fact, 83% of consumers can recall a brand name without prompting from the last promotional item they received. That's exactly the kind of brand recall a wearable charm like this can create.
It's a simple, low-cost way to turn "I bought shoes" into "I bought shoes for CNY."
2. Hermès' Exclusive Plush Keychain Gift Tied to Horse-Year Collection
The horse, in Chinese culture, represents freedom and ambition. It is the animal mostly associated with travel and adventure on the zodiac wheel, one that doesn’t like being fenced. That restless, wandering spirit turned out to be the perfect fit for Hermès hot air balloon keychain.
But merch for luxury brands doesn't work the same as for non-luxury ones. Luxury houses can't afford to give out something cheap or generic, as it can chip away at years of brand equity. This means whatever they select has to meet a much higher bar than a standard freebie.
Hermès tackled this with a plush keychain.
Hermès gave out this hot air balloon plush keychain, tied to its Spring/Summer collection and Year of the Horse theme. Source: Gumtoo.
Instead of printing a logo on a random toy, the design was based on the house's own Spring/Summer 2026 collection. The keychain was in the shape of a hot air balloon printed with "L'Appel Du Large," the season's theme, with a horse's head peeking out of the basket below, aligning neatly with its Year of the Horse campaign.
The connection to the existing collection also made the gift feel intentional. It wasn't just a random piece of merchandise with a logo slapped on it. Since the keychain was likely created for a private event or press preview rather than for retail, it served as an extension of the brand story rather than a product designed simply to be sold.
3. Harry's Spend-$88 Reward: A Sure-Win Scratch Card and Playing Cards
Harry's needed a way to raise average order value, or AOV, during CNY. AOV is the average amount a customer spends per transaction. It is one of the simplest ways to measure if a campaign is actually driving revenue.
But instead of relying on discounts, which tend to reduce margins, Harry's built a reason for customers to spend more.
They encouraged customers to spend $88 or more to get a sure-win scratch card. The prizes added up to $140,000 in total value, including up to $888 in dining vouchers, a limited-edition poker set, or limited-edition red packets.
Those numbers aren’t random. The number 8 (pronounced ‘ba’) is considered lucky in Chinese culture as it sounds close to 发 ( pronounced ‘fa’), the word for ‘to prosper’ or ‘to make a fortune.’ Every Singaporean reads that pricing ladder instantly.
Spend $88+ at Harry's and you'd walk away with a sure-win scratch card plus this limited-edition CNY poker deck. Source: Gumtoo.
And since 35% of Singaporeans planned to spend S$100+ on CNY in 2026, setting the bar at S$88 puts it just under what a meaningful share of customers were already budgeting to spend. The sure-win format was also a clever move. It ensured that nobody walked away empty-handed, keeping customer sentiment positive and protecting the campaign's ROI.
Harry’s brought in illustrator Saradevi Ng for the artwork. The deck features beautiful motifs that Singaporeans grew up with: mandarin oranges for wealth, ang bao packets, and the Hokkien word for pineapple ‘ong lai,’ which translates to ‘fortune comes.’ The back of the cards shows Harry’s own flagship shophouse at Boat Quay.
4. Khao Hom's $128 Tier Reward for Reunion Dinner Guests
For its Year of the Horse campaign, Khao Hom gave out playing cards, each carrying different Chinese idioms:
马到成功 (instant success)
马到金来 (wealth arrives)
马当先 (take the lead)
马到福到 (fortune arrives)
These are phrases that people already say to each other on CNY, so printing them onto the cards itself was a good strategy to make them occasion-appropriate. Plus, instead of one flat giveaway, they tiered their rewards into different categories.
Spend S$88, get a Fortune Red Packet.
Spend S$128, and walk home with the limited-edition poker cards.
Diners hitting $128 at Khao Hom took home this thick, gold-foil-stamped CNY deck, built to survive real shuffling. Source: Gumtoo.
A tiered reward system like this gives customers a reason to spend more.
78% of customers enjoy receiving free branded items from companies they already love. And a reunion dinner is exactly the occasion where families are already spending enough to cross that S$128 mark. So tying the better gift to that bill, rather than a smaller solo order, makes it easy to hit the higher tier.
In fact, the packaging is also cleverly tied to the CNY theme. The back of the cards feature a Thai-pattern border in gold foil on red. KhaoHom also opted for the more expensive foil stamping, which makes the pattern catch light when the deck is fanned out.
And that’s not all. The brand also requested the cards to be 300 GSM, thicker than a standard deck, and finished with a gloss varnish, so they hold up to real shuffling at the table.
The goal was simple: designing cards that were not only festive, but also looked like they belonged to Khao Hom specifically, and not another generic seasonal freebie that any restaurant could’ve handed out.
Since the reward is spend-gated rather than free with any order, Khao Hom protects its margins while still pushing AOV higher.
On top of that, the packaging also doubles as branding. It lists all three of Kao Hom locations across Singapore: Ang Mo Kio, East Coast, and Pasir Ris. This way, the deck works as a reminder for where people can find the restaurant.
5. Low-Cost CNY Temporary Tattoos Made for Celebration
Not every brand has the budget for a full merch line. And that's okay.
Small gestures can still make a big impression. CNY-themed temporary tattoos, for example, are inexpensive to produce compared with plush toys or card decks. That makes them an easy way to create branded merchandise without stretching a smaller marketing budget.
Handed out freely as an inexpensive, shareable freebie for anyone stopping by during CNY. Source: Gumtoo
For a brand watching its ROI closely, temporary tattoos offer great value for money - low production cost, but high potential for organic reach and customer engagement.
6. Starbuck's S$10+ Minimum Spend to Win Bonus Red Packets for Gold Members
Starbucks already sells a wide range of merch. But when it came to CNY, it faced a different problem than a restaurant. Restaurants typically need only one good CNY item. Starbucks, on the other hand, required a whole gifting range, since CNY shopping usually means buying for several people at once.
So, it launched a whole Year of the Horse collection, built around a farmyard narrative. The collection featured pony motifs dressed up in red and gold across mugs, a new stainless steel tumbler with a slider lid, and a festive Bearista in pony attire.
Shoppers could pair merchandise with a Year of the Horse card on a $10 minimum spend, with Gold members getting a bonus red packet set. Source: TheSmartLocal.
The collection was tied to a loyalty benefit too. Shoppers could pair merchandise with a Starbucks Year of the Horse card on a minimum spend of $10. Gold members also received a complimentary red packed set on a minimum spend of $28 in-store or online.
Launching the collection as a tiered, collectible range kept customers coming back across the whole campaign window.
7. McDonald's Plushie Drops Gifted With an $8.80 Meal Purchase
‘Prosperity’ isn’t a random word choice here. It is one of the most repeated ideas during CNY. In Singapore, this idea is baked into the tradition of Lo Hei, where families toss a prosperity salad together, and call out well wishes as it goes higher.
McDonald’s Singapore built its entire Year of the Horse menu around this tradition, along with launching the Prosperity Pal plushies as the festive merch. It took its popular Prosperity Twister Fries meal and turned it into a plush toy set. But that's not the smartest thing!
It then launched each piece on a staggered schedule instead of dropping the whole set at once. Every plushie came with a meal purchase for $8.80. And MyM loyalty members got early access to the full set through a points redemption.
Each Prosperity Pal plushie came free with an $8.80 meal purchase, released on a staggered schedule to drive repeat visits. Source: TheSmartLocal.
This staggered approach is what makes the campaign so effective. Instead of a one-and-done visit, McDonald's gave customers a reason to come back multiple times across the campaign window.
This was a great move to compound customer engagement over weeks, instead of requiring them to spend more in a single transaction.
8. KFC's Blind Box Collectibles Given With In-Store Purchase
For CNY 2026, KFC didn’t just launch a collectible, but also built an entire character around the idea of luck. A fictional, mystic character, Lady Huat served as the face of the campaign, with the message - don’t wait for good fortune, go make it yourself.
The Huat Paws blind box was a part of the campaign. The collection included five Fortune Cat designs, Abundance Chicken Bites, Lucky Drumsticks, Fortune Egg Tarts, Abundance Bucket, and one secret Gold Fortune Cat.
A Huat Paws blind box was given with any in-store purchase, or as a full set through delivery-only orders. Source: 8Days
You see, blind box collectibles aren't a niche format anymore. Pop Mart's 2025 revenue nearly tripled to $5.38 billion, up 185% year-over-year, almost entirely driven by this concept. KFC priced it smart too. A single box with any in-store purchase, or the full set exclusively through delivery orders.
The blind box format drove repeat purchases, since completing the set takes more than one try. And the secret gold Fortune Cat encouraged customers to post online for a shot at $888, which means they ended up doing KFC's engagement marketing for free.
9. Bee Cheng Hiang's Blind Box Reward & Bak Kwa
The Lucky Lep Trio is built around something Singaporeans already consider lucky. Each blind box hides one of three plushies:
财神 - The God of Fortune, who brings wealth and good vibes
招财猫 - The Fortune Cat, a classic symbol of prosperity
A Mahjong tile stamped with 發 - The character for wealth and a winning streak
All three are built on top of Singapore’s own Merlion.
Customers spending S$108 or more received a free Merlion-themed blind box, bundled alongside Bee Cheng Hiang's bak kwa. Source: TheSmartLocal.
Bee Cheng Hiang released this Merlion-themed plush blind box for CNY. It was bundled with bak kwa, tying the collectible to the core product people already buy for the festive season.
Customers received a free blind box once they hit a minimum spend of S$108, both in-store and online, which nudges CNY basket sizes up. For people who didn’t want to leave it on chance, individual boxes were available to purchase for $18.80, or a guaranteed full set of three for $56.40.
10. Nike's Annual Five-Shoe Year of the Horse Lineup for Sneaker Heads
The final name on our CNY merch inspo list is Nike, which takes a different approach entirely. Each year around Chinese New Year, the brand releases a zodiac-inspired collection, with every collection built around the zodiac animal in play.
Nike's five-shoe Year of the Horse lineup returns as a limited annual zodiac drop, driving demand through scarcity alone. Source: SoleRetriever.
For 2026, they launched a five-shoe Year of the Horse lineup: the Dunk Low, Air Force 1 Low, Field General, LD-1000, and P-6000.
Because the designs change every year, customers have a reason to look forward to the next drop instead of seeing it as just another seasonal release. That sense of anticipation does a lot of the work here.
Nike doesn't need to pour extra marketing spend into hyping the collection each year. The scarcity alone - knowing this year's design won't come back - keeps demand and customer engagement high.
Here’s What To Do Next
There you have it. Ten brands. Ten different ideas.
Gift-with-purchase from Harry's and Khao Hom.
Blind boxes from KFC and Bee Cheng Hiang.
Staggered drops tied to loyalty from McDonald's.
Tiered bundles from Starbucks.
An annual limited drop from Nike.
Low-cost wearables from MLB and CNY-themed tattoos.
While these concepts look different, they are built on the same two pillars: improving campaign ROI and driving customer engagement that lasts well beyond the transaction itself.
FAQs
1.What are some good CNY gifts?
Good CNY gifts are usually small, carry a little bit of luck, and feature familiar symbols like red, gold, or the zodiac animal. Think mandarin oranges, red packets, tea, snacks like bak kwa, or small keepsakes such as charms and plush toys.
2. What is CNY merchandise activation, and how is it different from a regular CNY sale or discount?
CNY merchandise activation is when a brand gives out or sells a special, festive item instead of just cutting prices. A discount saves customers money for a moment, but merch reminds the customer of the brand long after CNY is over.
3. How much should a brand budget for a CNY merchandise campaign?
There's no fixed magic number. Your budget depends on your brand's size, the format, and how many people you're trying to reach. A small brand could start with something low-cost, like temporary tattoos or stickers. A bigger brand might invest more in a full plush or blind box line.
4. How far in advance should a brand start planning a CNY merchandise activation?
The earlier, the better. Design, production, and shipping all take time, especially for items like plush toys or enamel charms. Most brands start planning a few months ahead, so the merch is ready and in stores well before the CNY rush begins.
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