JD.com, one of China’s e-commerce giants, has fired the first salvo in this year’s Singles’ Day campaign, the world’s largest shopping festival. The initiative comes as the domestic economy turns a corner, and competition among e-commerce platforms intensifies.
Within the first ten minutes of the promotion’s 8 pm start, JD.com’s user orders and overall transaction volume surged to over four times the figures from the previous year. JD.com’s Singles’ Day campaign is set to run through November 13, offering a unique twist to this annual shopping extravaganza.
A significant departure from tradition, JD.com eschewed the conventional presales period, making its vast inventory of over 800 million products instantly available for purchase. Backed by a more than 30-day price guarantee, this approach promises to compensate consumers if they find the same products at a lower price elsewhere.
Incredible sales records were set during the opening moments of the campaign. Popular smartphones from major vendors such as Apple, Xiaomi Corp, and Huawei Technologies achieved sales exceeding 100 million yuan (US$13.67 million) in mere seconds. Over 100 top-tier home appliance brands experienced a tenfold year-on-year sales surge. Categories like groceries and daily necessities, including cooking oil and rice, were among the fastest-selling, while products under JD.com’s 10-billion-yuan discount program exceeded 100 million yuan in sales within the first 5 minutes of the promotion. Other standout categories included toys, growing by 200%, Suqian hairy crabs with a 30-fold sales boost, and jewelry and accessories with flash sales that crossed the 100-million-yuan mark. JD Worldwide, the company’s import division, also doubled its year-on-year sales across more than 280 imported categories.
These impressive early results bode well for this year’s Singles’ Day, a stark contrast to 2022 when strict Covid-19 control measures dampened the event.
JD.com’s primary rival, Alibaba Group Holding, is set to kick off its Singles’ Day campaign, commonly referred to as “Double 11,” as well. Both JD.com and Alibaba withheld announcements of their gross merchandise volume or final sales tally for the first time last year. Analysts predict strong performances this year due to signs of economic recovery in the third quarter.
Zhang Yi, the chief executive of Guangzhou-based research firm iiMedia, noted that both e-commerce giants are aggressively promoting deep price cuts to stimulate consumption while simultaneously defending their positions against new live-streaming e-commerce platforms.
Consumption indeed appears to be a bright spot in China’s economic recovery, with retail sales growing by 5.5% in September, compared to a 4.6% increase in August. Official data released last week also indicated that the country’s economy grew 4.9% year-on-year in the third quarter.
Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group have pledged to attract about 1 billion consumers in this year’s Singles’ Day promotion, offering more than 80 million products at low prices. Their live-streaming platform, Taobao Live, has already distributed 1 billion yuan worth of cash coupons from October 12 to 23.
However, this year’s Singles’ Day differs significantly from previous years. E-commerce giants now face stiff competition from major live-streaming e-commerce platforms such as ByteDance-owned Douyin, Kuaishou Technology, and discount retailer PDD, which owns Pinduoduo. The battle for consumers’ attention and spending is more intense than ever before.
(Source: Iris Deng | South China Morning Post)
