In early June, Qingdao, a city in Shandong province in Eastern China, launched the first “beer exchange” in the country. On the Taidong (台东, sometimes Taitung) Commercial Pedestrian Street, you can get many types of beers from classic Tsingtao to fruit-flavoured beer, but with a live dynamic pricing. You watch the trading board just as you would the stock exchange for the latest trade and buy the dip.
This is a fun and gamified way of selling at the “Qingdao Beer Exchange”. The beer exchange sets limits of up and down at 10%, effectively creating a randomised discount for different beers. Interestingly, like the stock exchanges in China, the prices are shown as red when going up, but what makes it different is that it shows blue when the price drops. Perhaps it was to avoid the negative connotation of a “green” stock, as most would want the prices to go down in this instance.
- #青岛啤酒交易所 Qingdao Beer Exchange: 487,000 views on Weibo, ranking number 4 on the Lifestyle list
- #青岛啤酒交易所 Qingdao Beer Exchange: 246,800 views on Rednote
With a legacy of German occupation between 1898 and 1914, the city is known for its love of beer and is home to one of the best-known beers in China, Tsingtao Brewery. The beer exchange was not initiated by the culture and travel authorities in the city, but is an extension of the street’s “beer as IP” strategy to attract visitors. Not only is the gamified retail a great way to boost travel, but it can also help its supplier, Tsingtao Brewery, which saw its revenue drop 5.30% to 32.14 billion RMB (4.48 billion USD) in 2024.