The Chinese Discount System 😱

Mandarin 普通话
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As Singles’ Day is next week I thought I would share a bit about the Chinese Discount System.

This was very confusing for me when I first came to China, so hopefully if you are confused too this will help a little.

THE most important thing to know: Chinese discounts work the other way around!

In stores you will see discounts displayed as 9折，8折，6折 etc.

At first I thought “9折… 90% off?! Nice!!” but I was very WRONG.

:point_right: 9折 is actually a 10% discount!

9折 means you will pay 90 percent of the original price, meaning you get a 10% discount.
Same goes with the rest, 4折 means you pay 40% of the original price, so you get a 60% discount, etc.

Here are some images I created for Instagram (going live next week!) but you can save them now for future reference:

Single's Day in China 5
Single's Day in China 51080×1080 146 KB

Single's Day in China 6
Single's Day in China 61080×1080 160 KB

To know more about Singles’ Day in China:

I hope this was helpful! Let me know what you think :blush:

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This mega confused me when I got to Taiwan. I remember trying to buy a phone case in my first week and not understanding why it wasn’t 90% off :smile_cat:

Equally, yesterday I was in a mall and saw some super discount items with 1折 and it didn’t compute in my head. It takes some time to get used to!!

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Yes same for me. And now sometimes the other round way when I go home to Europe.

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