Foreign brands including Nike, IKEA and Vacheron Constantin rush to release the Year of the Horse limited editions to capitalize on the Spring Festival consumption boom. Photos: websites of the companies/GT

With the Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year) around the corner, various foreign brands, once again drawing inspiration from the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, are rushing to release a series of the Year of the Horse limited editions, ranging from earphones and apparel to watches and home décor, to celebrate the start of the new year.

Analysts said foreign brands' move to deepen their presence in the Chinese market by leveraging the Year of the Horse themes represents an integration of cultural empathy and commercial insight while underscoring their recognition of the resilience of China's ultra-large market. 

With the implementation of the national strategy to expand the domestic market during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), a massive increase in consumption is expected, which will create more opportunities for foreign enterprises, they said.

Catering to zodiac culture
Footwear companies such as major brands Nike and Converse have taken the lead to release the Year of the Horse-themed limited editions. For instance, Nike recently launched Nike Dunk Low SE "CNY" sneakers, with the heel featuring a winged horse and auspicious cloud motifs aimed at celebrating the Year of the Horse. 

Converse launched its "Taking Flight" footwear. 

Inspired by the horse, Belgian chocolate brand Godiva transformed the blessing of "smooth progress and continuous good luck" into exquisite chocolates with horse-shaped boxes. 

French cognac producer Hennessy pays tribute to the vibrant spirit of the horse in its limited editions for the Year of the Horse.

US tech giant Apple also launched a limited-edition version of AirPods Pro 3 to celebrate the Year of the Horse, with a cute horse emoji engraved on the front of the case, according to the Apple China website. The sales started on Thursday in the Chinese mainland and several other regions.

Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA has launched the Spring Festival series for five consecutive years, with the sales of about 25 new products for the Year of the Horse starting in December 2025 in the Chinese mainland. With new brand positioning, IKEA aims to join hands with more families in China to add beauty to festive life through design, according to IKEA China website.

Swiss watch brand Vacheron Constantin released 25 watches in its MÉTIERS D'ART "The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac - Year of The Horse" series. The special series feature a horse leaping into the air to jump over a boulder, showcasing the vitality and power of the animal in Chinese culture.

The Year of the Horse zodiac has invigorated China's consumer market in recent days, reflecting not only the growing demand for customization and diversity but also people's deep-seated identification with and emotional connection to traditional Chinese culture, Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Friday, noting that the Spring Festival is a peak consumption season that foreign enterprises cannot miss.

"As an integral part of traditional Chinese culture, the Spring Festival and the zodiac are imbued with rich cultural meanings and embody people's aspirations and blessings for a better life," Zhang said. "Behind those foreign brands' marketing practices lies the boundless vitality of traditional Chinese culture in the modern era." 

Vast opportunities
China's consumption structure is rapidly shifting from survival-oriented to development- and experience-oriented consumption, according to consulting firm Roland Berger's China Annual Trends Report released on January 8.

The Chinese government has elevated the expansion of domestic demand to a strategic priority, launching initiatives such as the "Year of Consumption Promotion." Basically, these measures encourage a leap from quantitative satisfaction to qualitative enrichment, using consumption upgrading to drive supply-side innovation and power high-quality economic growth, the report notes.

Domestic demand has become a keyword for the international community to observe China's economy. In 2025, as China continued to make steady progress in implementing its strategy to expand domestic demand, its total retail sales of consumer goods surpassed 50 trillion yuan ($7.17 trillion) for the first time, showcasing to the world the opportunities and potential of China's vast consumer market.

"Consumer spending has become the main driving force behind China's economic growth. Thanks to the implementation of a series of pro-consumption policies, along with improvements in household income expectations and consumer confidence, China's consumer market is expected to gain more momentum in 2026," Pan Helin, a Beijing-based veteran economist, told the Global Times on Friday.

In an action plan released on November 26, 2025, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments mapped out key measures to better match the supply and demand for consumer goods and further stimulate consumption.

By 2027, the supply structure of consumer goods is expected to be significantly optimized, creating three "trillion-yuan consumption sectors" and 10 "100-billion-yuan consumption hotspots," according to the plan. The plan also states that by 2030, the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth will rise steadily.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee's recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for China's economic and social development call for a notable increase in the GDP share of household consumption, and for strengthened inclusive policies that benefit consumers directly, among a series of measures to vigorously boost consumption, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

With a 1.4-billion-strong population and the world's largest middle-income group, China is one of the most promising consumer markets, Pan said. 

He noted that China's favorable policies and firm commitment to opening-up, represented by the Hainan Free Trade Port's independent customs operations launched in December 2025, will provide vast opportunities for global businesses to further explore the Chinese market.

"China remains a critical market for many multinational companies, with abundant opportunities," Denis Depoux, global managing director of Roland Berger, told the Global Times on Friday, highlighting that China is not only a vast consumer market but is becoming a wellspring of innovation and a benchmark for competitiveness.

By leveraging the innovative outcomes of "Creation in China" and "Design in China," multinational enterprises are poised to boost their global competitiveness, he said.