Biz Unusual

Solar eclipse proves big business for retailers

By Yu Tianyu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-03 07:53

Eclipse from the clouds

Airlines also scheduled special flights to allow passengers an above-the-clouds glimpse of the solar eclipse.

China Southern Airlines offered 80 special flights.

One passenger who identified himself only by his surname, Liu, said at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport that he was unable to book a seat on a Chengdu-Shanghai flight that day.

"Tickets were sold out weeks ago," he said

A quick search of taobao.com, an Internet auction site that has been called "China's eBay", showed more than 2,000 eclipse-related items for sale.

They included telescopes, solar eclipse sunglasses, special camera lenses and other items ranging in price from a few yuan to more than 100 yuan. Many were listed as "sold out".

Taobao.com reported that in just one week preceding the solar eclipse, 30,000 items were sold for more than 1.5 million yuan.

Zhu Tong, a taobao.com merchant, said he earned 8,000 yuan in two weeks by selling eclipse-related trinkets.

"The most popular items were plastic eclipse glasses. I've been doing business at taobao.com for years, but this is the first time I earned so much money in such a short time," Zhu said.

"Even some luxury glasses with eclipse watching functions, which were a bit unmarketable in the past, were sold," he said.

Another taobao.com merchant, Zhu Yan, said sales of her protective goggles earned her more than 500,000 yuan in two weeks.

"One day I replenished a stock of 1,000 solar eclipse goggles, and 500 sold immediately," she said. A factory in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province began making solar eclipse viewing glasses in April.

At 2 yuan each, the plant sold more than 100,000 pairs of the glasses.