Gains on both Saturday and Sunday
Saturday sales increased by +£200k (+17.6%). Sunday sales increased by +£120k (+30.2%).
Client case study
Sheffield BID
Evaluating Sheffield’s Chinese New Year event.
Beauclair worked with Diane Jarvis, Head of Business Operations at Sheffield BID, to measure whether the 2025 Year of the Snake celebrations delivered a real commercial uplift — beyond the perception of vibrancy on the day.
The event
Sheffield’s growing community celebration.
Lunar Chinese New Year in Sheffield is a community-driven partnership of diverse local communities, led by local and cultural leadership and backed by Sheffield BID funding.
The inaugural 2024 Year of the Dragon event delivered an additional 13,000 visitors
For 2025 — Year of the Snake — the challenge was measuring success versus the perception of vibrancy
Spend metrics told a deeper, clearer story than footfall alone
Approach
Determining the impact of Chinese New Year celebrations.
Beauclair compared sales on the Chinese New Year weekend with the previous and following weekends. Higher sales on the festival weekend would indicate success in attracting visitors and spend to Sheffield city centre.
Sales were split by day, retail sector, customer origin and customer demographic to identify what drove any change.
Previous weekend: 25–26 January 2025
Chinese NY weekend: 1–2 February 2025
Following weekend: 8–9 February 2025
Key findings
Chinese New Year associated with a large increase in sales.
Festival weekend sales reached £1.86m, compared with £1.48m the previous weekend and £1.59m the following weekend — a £320k / 20.9% uplift versus the average of neighbouring weekends. Comparison with the equivalent weekend the previous year confirmed that only a small minority of this increase could be attributed to other factors, such as the first weekend after payday.
Largest increase in Food & Drink
Food & Drink sales rose +£125k (+15.3%). Tourism (+£51k / +163%) and Entertainment (+£42k / +69%) also saw large gains.
Primarily local residents
The majority of the increase came from people within the Sheffield City Council area — +£223k (+25.3%).
Younger city dwellers led the uplift
Largest demographic sales changes came from Rental Hubs (+£120k / +67.9%) and Transient Renters (+£76k / +74.1%) — younger people living close to the city centre.
Conclusion
Clear positive impact from the 2025 festival on Sheffield sales.
Chinese New Year drove a measurable weekend uplift across multiple sectors — especially Food & Drink — with younger local residents accounting for much of the additional spend. Spend data turned a vibrant event into board-ready evidence.