E-commerce staff at the Yonghui Super Market in Lhasa, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, prepare for the delivery of online orders on Feb 8, 2021. [Photo by Palden Nyima/chinadaily.com.cn]

In the days leading up to Spring Festival and Losar New Year Festival, online shopping is a new and encouraged buying option for many residents in Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region.

The Lhasa Bureau of Commerce conducted an online New Year goods shopping activity on Sunday in Lhasa. The event was aimed at encouraging residents to adopt online shopping to avoid potential risks due to the ongoing fight against novel coronavirus.

This year, Spring Festival and the Losar Tibetan New Year both fall on Feb 12, and traditionally last for one to two weeks.

According to the Lhasa Bureau of Commerce, an advocate of online New Year shopping, the city's seven large shopping malls and online stores have launched various discounts with online shopping.

Phuntsok Sangpo, who is responsible for e-commerce at the Yonghui Super Market, one of the seven large shopping malls and online stores in Lhasa launching online shopping services, said online shopping of New Year goods has soared this week ahead of the celebrations.

"We launch different discounts almost every day; we also offer coupons to online shoppers from different fields, including governmental workers, business people, students, soldiers, and police officers," said Phuntsok.

"Most people buy vegetables, fruit, rice, flour, and snacks," he said, adding the average number of daily orders during working hours has risen from 60 to 70 two weeks ago to more than 100 within the last few days, and the average number of products online that consumers buy has jumped from less than 10 to more than 20 now, he said.