Chongqing- Time-honored brands are not opposed to the new consumption, but a fresh combination with the new consumption, said experts. With a strong foundation in terms of quantity and variety, Southwest China's Chongqing is at the forefront of the time-honored brands' protection and development. 

When searching "time-honored brands" or "laozihao" in Chinese on Google, the words naturally form an exclusive tie with China, with maintenance from centuries of business and handicraft competition, representing inestimable brand, economic and cultural value with heritage in the new era.

Data shows that there are 19 of China's time-honored brands and 291 local ones in Chongqing so far, with the annual output value exceeding 100 billion yuan (about 13.91 billion U.S. dollars). 

Professional staff makes Rongchang ceramics, the old brand in the Chongqing district. (Visual Chongqing)

"The time-honored brands have good brand trust, while new consumption has expanded its development space. The combination of new and old styles will inject new vitality," said Liao Chenglin, School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University. 

With a broad market base, the time-honored brand is a concentrated representative of excellent commercial brands and traditional culture. Modern information technologies such as big data and cloud computing should empower them to cultivate new business models and consumption scenarios.

Consumption scenarios integrate digital experience 

The new consumption scenarios are not simply a gathering space from offline to online, but a renewal of the overall feeling and model. "However, some of the old brands in Chongqing haven't understood the new thinking, and there is still a gap with developed areas," Liao said. 

Currently, cities like Beijing and Shanghai have applied the Metaverse technology to the old brands with over 250 applications. "It can attract more consumers by such new scenarios, which can integrate digitalization, information technology, deep immersion experience, and so on," Liao added. 

With over 100 years of history, Zhejiang Wufangzhai, produces rice dumplings, moon cakes, glue puddings, boiled dumplings, and other products. They introduced the concept of Metaverse with its first virtual brand spokesman to shorten the distance between consumers with further interaction. 

Similarly, Jiangsu Province held the Fourth Grand Canal Culture and Tourism Expo, where the famous Yangzhou fried rice represented a different food experience by non-fungible token (NFT) digital collection and augmented reality technology. 

Many citizens came to taste and buy Chongqing's special food. (Photo/ Visual Chongqing)

Seize trends to expand business formats

To activate new consumption of time-honored brands, it can not develop from a narrow sense of culture, technology, or methods; but focus on its sore points and selling points.

Among them, the new business format is one key element that requires the old brands to keep up with the transformation's pace and guarantee its product competitiveness. 

For example, one of the Chongqing traditional hotpot restaurants, Xiao Dong Tian, cooperated deeply with Chongqing Qishuang Industry to expand its business to a series of prepackaged foods, from hotpot condiments and green pepper base to brewed beef.

Another example could be Tianfu Cola, which seized the "zero sugar" trend to launch new products this year, including herbal sugar-free cola and Tianfu lemon soft drink. 

Liao believes Chongqing's old brands should have cultural confidence. They have to make use of the popular trends to expand business formats, even export overseas. 

Ciqikou Chen's Fried Dough Twist is one of the famous old brands in Chongqing. (Photo provided to iChongqing)