Chinese consumers have shown robust purchasing power for high-quality and intelligent products containing innovative technologies during the Singles Day shopping extravaganza, organized in the run-up to November 11. Experts said this has played a vital role in promoting the recovery of consumption and shoring up economic growth in the country. Major Chinese e-commerce platforms have extended the promotional period, and adopted a simple and more pragmatic approach by canceling presale campaigns this year. Instead, direct price cuts have become the preferred strategy to attract price-conscious customers and bolster sales during China’s biggest online shopping event. Experts also said that unlike in the past, when record-smashing gross merchandise volume (GMV) through discount-led sales had come to characterize the 11-11 or Double Eleven promotional campaign, chasing high GMV is no longer the focus now. Chinese shoppers are becoming more rational and are carefully reviewing their needs, with an emphasis on the quality and value of commodities, they added.
Data from Tmall, Alibaba Group’s business-to-customer (B2C) platform, showed that in the first four hours after the shopping gala officially kicked off at 8 pm on October 21, 174 brands saw their sales surpass CNY100 million. The turnover of more than 12,000 brands surged over 100% year-on-year and the sales of nearly 6,000 brands skyrocketed more than 500% compared with the same period last year. The transaction volume of Apple's products on Tmall exceeded CNY1 billion within five minutes, while sales of domestic smartphone brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo all surpassed CNY100 million in the first four hours of the promotional event, according to Tmall.
Consumers preferred to snap up bargains via live-streaming on e-commerce platforms, with sales from some top-tier live-streamers on Taobao Live, Alibaba’s live-streaming arm, surpassing CNY100 million within a short period. JD, another major Chinese e-commerce player, has launched a subsidy campaign worth CNY10 billion, and given discounts for commodities included in the consumer goods trade-in program, such as home appliances and computers. It has also stepped up efforts to upgrade supply chains and logistics services. JD said it recorded a double-digit year-on-year growth in transaction volume, orders, and user numbers between 8 pm on October 14, when its promotional gala started, and 9 pm on October 31. More than 16,000 brands saw their sales surge over threefold year-on-year, while the number of brands exceeding CNY100 million in turnover increased over 400% compared with the same period last year. More than 17,000 merchants witnessed their order volumes soar over five times from a year earlier. The number of new users who bought apparel and cosmetics via JD’s online marketplaces skyrocketed over 140% year-on-year, while JD’s live-streaming channel saw a 245% year-on-year increase in order volumes.
Consumer electronic devices witnessed robust growth during the shopping extravaganza. The transaction volume of gaming laptops rose 120% year-on-year and AI smartphones and 4K projectors recorded 100% growth in turnover, while the sales of AI learning devices and 3D printers surged over 10 times from the same period last year, JD said.
A number of products that represent scientific and technological innovations achieved by Chinese enterprises have been made available on e-commerce platform Taobao. These products cover fields such as information technology, artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, new energy and quantum technology. For example, consumers can directly purchase the country’s independently developed AS700 civil manned airship.
The Double Eleven festival was just a 24-hour event on November 11 when it was inaugurated by Alibaba in 2009, but has stretched into a weeks-long shopping spree lasting from mid-October to mid-November this year. Online retailers initiated the promotional event one week earlier this year than previously. “Consumption has become the main driving force boosting China’s economic growth, and the Singles Day shopping gala is pivotal to unleashing consumers’ purchasing potential, bolstering domestic demand and promoting consumption recovery,” said Wang Yun, Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macro-economic Research. More stimulus policies are needed to stabilize and expand employment, improve household incomes, and boost people’s ability and willingness to spend, so as to further perk up consumption, Wang added.
China’s retail sales, a significant indicator of consumption strength, rose 3.3% year-on-year in the first three quarters of this year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Online sales remained a bright spot, rising 8.6% year-on-year during the January-September period. Based on a survey by global consulting firm AlixPartners in early October, consumers still view Singles Day as the most important shopping festival. Most consumers are likely to maintain their spending levels from the previous year, with 25% of interviewed shoppers saying that there would be an increase in their overall spending, the China Daily reports.
