Consumer Behavior: A Rational Return

Gone are the days of impulsive “buy, buy, buy” mantras.

Today’s consumers are more discerning, seeking value for money, and brand credibility over the lure of influencers and livestream promotions. The impact of livestreams has waned, with only 22% of consumers citing it as a key purchasing factor, a decline from 32% in 2021.

Market Trends: The Price Wars

E-commerce platforms are intensifying their competition on pricing, with aggressive strategies like price matching and guarantees of the lowest prices on the web. This year’s theme for JD.com’s Double 11 is “Real Cheap,” reflecting a market shift back to core retail principles: value for money.

The Rise of Domestic Brands

Chinese local brands are set to be the biggest winners of Double 11 this year.

A significant 66% of consumers plan to increase their spending on domestic brands, turning away from international products.

This trend is driven by a deepened trust in the quality and safety of local brands, with young consumers actively seeking local alternatives to overseas brands, especially in apparel and accessories.

The Silver Economy

With over 280 million people aged 60 and above, China hosts the world’s largest “silver” consumer group, many of whom are proficient in using the internet and smart devices.

They represent a vital yet understated market segment, with a buying motivation split between seeking discounts and enhancing the quality of later life. The influence of family and friends plays a significant role in their purchasing decisions, indicating that reputation and word of mouth are paramount within this demographic.

For Double 11 in 2023, expect the following:

• A market driven by rational consumer choices, with less emphasis on influencer marketing and more on product quality and brand reputation.
• A surge in domestic brand loyalty, as consumers prioritize local products over international offerings.
• An emphasis on pricing strategies, with platforms offering various subsidies, price guarantees, and direct discounts to capture market share.
• A need for tailored marketing strategies to cater to the growing silver economy, which seeks quality, usability, and trustworthy recommendations.

The Double 11 Shopping Festival of 2023 is shaping up to be a battleground for price and value, a showcase for national brands, and a testament to the discerning power of the silver economy. As consumer behavior becomes more rational, e-commerce platforms and brands must adapt to these evolving trends to captivate the Chinese market.

Overall Performance

The 2023 Double 11 event showcased a total online retail sales volume of 515.56 billion yuan during the peak sale period (October 31st to November 3rd), marking a 9.5% year-on-year increase. This growth signifies robust overall performance amidst an evolving e-commerce landscape​​.

According to data from Xingtu, the total GMV on comprehensive e-commerce platforms totaled 277.7 billion yuan from 8pm 10 November till the end of 11 November. 60% from Tmall, JD.com about 28%, Pinduoduo 7%. Cross-border import e-commerce accounted for 34.1 billion yuan.

Strategic Shifts and Platform Performances

A noticeable shift this year was the focus on low pricing strategies across platforms. Major e-commerce giants like JD.com, Tmall-Taobao, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Pinduoduo emphasized offering the lowest prices, with individual approaches to discounts and subsidies​​.

The sales distribution among platforms was quite varied. Tmall led with a 35.4% share, followed by JD.com (21.6%), Douyin (9.6%), Taobao (8.6%), and Pinduoduo (6.7%). The combined Tmall and Taobao, forming the Taobao-Tmall group, dominated with a 44% sales share​​.

Douyin’s rise to the third position highlights the increasing acceptance of its e-commerce model, which integrates interest-based shopping, short video content, and live-streaming​​.

Consumer Trends

The 2023 festival saw more diversified and personalized consumption. There was a notable acceleration in high-quality, experiential, and interest-driven consumption. Products catering to unique hobbies like rock climbing, surfing, and camping gained popularity, along with smart products like open-ear headphones and electric adjustable desks​​.

Health management and beauty products also saw a surge in demand. The trend towards “home-based healthcare” led to increased sales of oxygen concentrators, blood oxygen monitors, hearing aids, and electric wheelchairs. The anti-aging segment, particularly home beauty devices, witnessed explosive growth​​.

Individual Platform Highlights

JD.com: Achieved record-breaking sales, orders, and user numbers. Over 60 brands surpassed 1 billion yuan in sales, and nearly 20,000 brands saw a more than threefold increase in transaction volume compared to last year. The platform also reported significant growth in live broadcasting viewership, with a total of over 380 million views​​​​.

Tmall: Reported 402 brands exceeding 1 billion yuan in sales, with national brands making up a significant portion. The platform witnessed a historic peak in user visits and continued to expand its market share, especially in lower-tier markets​​​​.

Douyin: Experienced significant growth in GMV, with daily GMV of certain products exceeding one million yuan. The platform’s “official discount” strategy played a key role in this success, highlighting social commerce’s and live streaming’s power in driving sales​​​​.

These insights reflect the robust nature of China’s e-commerce ecosystem and underscore the changing consumer preferences and strategic shifts among the leading online shopping platforms. The Double 11 festival continues to evolve, setting new trends and benchmarks in the global e-commerce landscape.

Taobao emerged as a defensive strategy against potential C2C competition from eBay’s Chinese platform, Eachnet​. Taobao’s innovative strategies, such as introducing Alipay to ensure secure transactions, helped it secure a substantial market share.

On the 20th anniversary of its founding, Taobao is set to host the most significant 618 Shopping Festival to date. The festival’s evolution mirrors the transformative growth of e-commerce, driven by platforms like Taobao, which have revolutionized how people shop and interact with retailers.

For 2023, Taobao’s strategy for the 618 Shopping Festival revolves around transforming consumers into creators.

In an era where user-generated content has become integral to online engagement, Taobao aims to elevate the shopping experience beyond a simple transaction. This shift aligns with the broader trend in e-commerce, which has been accelerated by the global pandemic, towards more interactive and personalized shopping experiences.

Regarding impact on China’s economy, the 618 Shopping Festival’s contribution to Alibaba’s total revenue is significant​.

The event has grown exponentially since its inception, reflecting the rapid growth of China’s e-commerce sector. The 2023 edition of the festival is expected to further boost this growth trajectory, given the increased scale and novel consumer engagement strategies planned for this year.

The allure of low prices has always been a critical characteristic of online shopping festivals. However, in recent years, the price war has extended from festival periods to daily transactions, with short-term subsidies transitioning into long-term ones.

This shift has led to debates around the necessity of these online shopping festivals, especially as low prices have become somewhat of a norm in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Yet, low prices often come with certain preconditions or basic requirements. For instance, JD.com’s low prices have traditionally been established on multi-item discounts.

However, this year’s 618 Shopping Festival may improve the quality of service (such as half-day delivery service by Cainiao) and lower the threshold for discounted prices based on purchase quantity.

This approach focuses on the keyword “low price,” enhances service quality, and broadens the customer base. Despite low prices becoming a norm, festival periods offer an upgraded shopping experience compared to ordinary days.

In the current environment, improving the return on investment (ROI) for marketing communications remains a significant challenge for the entire industry. This challenge is primarily due to the broader economic environment, which has led to a trend of consumption downgrade.

The biggest dilemma is identifying target customers and stimulating consumer enthusiasm in challenging circumstances. The difficulties in content creation for product promotion and fulfillment of product promises play a significant role.

While merchants have adopted live streaming and digital marketing, attracting traffic in a fiercely competitive market using forms the audience enjoys is a major challenge.

Another concern is maintaining operations after traffic conversion, such as improving the customer experience (product quality and fulfillment, after-sales service, etc.). The entire process involves a long chain of stages, each demanding high professionalism and the ability to respond flexibly to market changes.

As the 618 Shopping Festival approaches, how should merchants prepare in advance? It is crucial to ensure sufficient preparation for product stock and transport capacity. For product inventory, merchants should rely heavily on data-driven predictions to stock up sufficiently in advance.

This preparation should not only be adequate in terms of quantity but also detailed in terms of warehouse distribution and logistics delivery.

At the end of 2022, during the Double 12 shopping festival, some users received their goods only after a month, leaving a bitter taste about the “express” delivery.

Most major platforms have deployed highly automated and intelligent warehouse logistics systems in key consumer markets. Barring uncontrollable factors such as adverse weather, delivery delays should be less frequent.

The issue during the 2022 Double 12 festival was partly due to the widespread transmission of the pandemic. Given the current state of pandemic transmission, a similar situation is unlikely to occur.

Nevertheless, express delivery companies should prepare and plan equipment maintenance, debugging, and personnel deployment. Platforms and merchants should prepare and plan sufficiently for sales predictions and stock-up.

618 Sales

This year no specific GMV or sales data are released from any major e-commerce platforms in China.

Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall Business Group recorded an unprecedented level of merchant participation in China’s mid-year shopping festival, the 6.18, held from May 26 to June 20, spotlighting positive signs of Chinese consumers’ post-pandemic spending prowess.

Data released by Taobao & Tmall on Monday exhibited a paradigm shift in consumer behavior, particularly a surge in livestreaming viewership and short video consumption.

During the 6.18 festival, the daily average of short video views on Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace, increased by 113% from the previous year. Daily short-form video releases from influencers and Taobao merchants have increased by 200% and 55%, respectively, year over year.

Moreover, the festival witnessed a 139% year-over-year increase in content creators initiating livestreaming on Taobao. Consumers’ viewing time on the app doubled, demonstrating the growing influence of digital content in the e-commerce landscape.

The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of merchants reportedly swelled two to three-fold year-over-year. A total of 305 brands achieved sales above RMB 100 million ($13.99 million) just after the stroke of midnight on June 18.

Additionally, over 2.56 million small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) outperformed last year’s festival, with 1.18 million SMEs each surpassing a GMV of RMB 10,000.

The festival also shed light on new consumer trends, with items like watersports shoes, suitcases, and sunscreen masks being the hot favorites. Around 180,000 customers purchased watersports shoes, while suitcases and sunscreen masks were snapped up by 1.65 million and 930,000 people, respectively.

Apple, which held a rare livestream and offered discounts on its products, including the iPhone 14 Pro and Apple Watch Series 8, saw their broadcast attract 1.3 million viewers and collect 300,000 likes within the first hour.

In this year’s 6.18 shopping festival, video-sharing platform Bilibili saw a surge in its e-commerce advertising revenue, which jumped by more than 400% year-on-year.

Product promotion is becoming a new revenue growth engine for both Bilibili and its content creators, with the number of promoters more than tripling compared to last year’s 6.18.

As the consumption and transaction ecosystem thrives, the number of promotional videos on the site has increased nearly eightfold year-on-year, while the number of promotional livestreams has grown almost 7.5 times over the same period.

During the 6.18 period on Bilibili, the number of content creators who received orders from advertisers through Huahuo increased by over 40% year-on-year.

According to data from the “Spark Program,” which is linked to the Taobao Union (Taobao’s affiliate program), in industries such as home decor and cosmetics, Bilibili accounted for more than 70% of new customers for merchant shops.

Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer website, saw a 155.1% year-on-year increase in queries related to “how to choose products.” By the end of May, the volume of content related to “618” on Zhihu had increased by 272% month-on-month, while search volume had risen by 240% over the same period.

Among them, the top 3 in sales are Apple, Haier, and Midea. Apple’s sales have even exceeded 5 billion yuan, opening a large gap with other brands.

JD reported over 10% growth in this year’s total 618 GMV while Alibaba and Pinduoduo didn’t disclose too much data on this year’s 618 sales.

CIW annual subscribers can download Top 10 Best-selling Brands in Tmall/Taobao 618 2022 here.

Alibaba Tmall 618 2022

In the May presale period, Tmall merchants will receive roughly RMB10 billion ($1.5 billion) in deposits made by consumers to secure their orders. Once shipping starts between June 1 and June 30, the remaining balance of up to RMB100 billion will be sent to businesses.

For cross-border merchants, international B2C marketplace Tmall Global is freeing up to RMB4 billion to their payment accounts as soon as parcels leave warehouses between June 1 and June 30.

Presale

Tmall 618 2022 pre-sale officially opened at 8 p.m. on May 26. The first wave of rush buying started at 8 p.m. on May 31 and the second wave starts at 8 p.m. on June 15.

This year, Taobao increased the pre-sale time during the 618 event, making the official pre-sale an increment for businesses to make a good start. The platform will provide the official pre-sale atmosphere, the official pre-sale venue, and search for recommended resources.

On June 18 this year, Taobao simplified the preferential rules and marketing complexity. The discount for cross store full sales was reduced by 20 yuan or 50 for every 199 or 1000 yuan spend.

Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall are not the only e-commerce platforms for 618 shopping festival promotions. Many retailers and major online platforms, such as JD, Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, etc., have promotions to push up their sales.

Tmall 618 Sale

Alibaba didn’t share much this year’s 618 shopping festival sales data.

Among the 35 categories counted in a third-party research company Nint’s report, there were 6 brands with sales exceeding 1 billion yuan in a single category sales; and, 108 brands had sales exceeding 1 billion yuan each.

Among them, Apple, Midea, Haier, Xiaomi, and L’Oreal ranked among the top 5 in overall sales. With sales of 15 billion, Apple is the only brand with sales of more than 10 billion yuan (US$2.23 billion), and has become the biggest winner.

JD 618 2022

Instead of getting different coupons, Jingdong 618 platform offers an immediate RMB 50 yuan discount for every qualified RMB 299-yuan purchase, making the shopping process even simpler this time.

Presales

During the pre-order phase of this year’s 618 Grand Promotion from 8 p.m. on May 23 to midnight on the 29, sales of a number of top brands exceeded RMB 100 million yuan, such as Xiaomi, Haier, Lenovo, Huawei, Midea and more.

The official 618 Grand Promotion sales phase started at 8 p.m. on May 31 and lasts until June 20, during which JD’s customers can purchase their pre-ordered products to enjoy discounts and worry-free shopping services including same or next-day delivery service.

JD’s data during the past six days revealed that the “post-95” generation showed rising spending power with pre-order sales up 75 percent YoY. Meanwhile, the product variety offered on JD.com during this year’s shopping festival increased by 20 percent and a robust demand is seen from China’s sixth-tier cities with over 100 percent growth YoY.

Sales of the home appliances category as a whole rose by 200 percent YoY, while order volume of new products tripled. Sales of tablets, home use printers, and mechanical keyboards increased 100, 170, and 400 percent respectively.

In the healthcare category, the overall order volume on JD Health grew by 186 percent YoY.

The number of products joining the pre-order period increased by 219 percent. Deposits for body fat measurers increased 576 percent YoY, and that of Bio Island’s DHA for kids grew 10 times, becoming the biggest “dark horse” during JD Health’s pre-order period.

More and more customers are getting used to online ordering for offline services.

Orders of automobile products with installation services on JD.com increased 240 percent YoY, among which tire-changing service orders is up by 135 percent; furniture with installation service orders increased 127 percent, and travel orders are up by 110 percent on JD.com.

JD’s latest omni-channel store, the J Shop, attracted 50 percent more merchants to participate in this year’s shopping festival, who together brought double the amount of products in the fashion and lifestyle categories.

During the pre-order phase, the J Shop channel presented over a hundred best-sellers from an array of big brands from home and abroad, such as SK-II gift boxes, Arman Men’s T-shirts, and Lancôme’s anti-aging serum, just to name a few.

More than 20 brands under JD Luxury reached over 100 percent sales growth month over month, including Tory Burch, MCM, Chopard, and more. BVLGARI’s daily sales on JD Luxury during the past six days quadrupled its average amount. The top 3 Swiss watches are from Longines, Tissot, and MIDO, with Longines’ sales increasing by 160 percent YoY.

618 Sales

The 19th JD 618 Grand Promotion officially kicked off at 8 p.m. on May 31 after an eight-day pre-order phase.

In the first 10 minutes of the mid-year shopping festival, the sales of a number of brands exceeded RMB 100 million yuan, including Xiaomi, Midea, Haier, Lenovo, Apple, HONOR, Huawei, SONY, Asus, Siemens and more.

Smartphones, air conditioners, Chinese sticky rice dumplings for Dragon Boat Festival (which falls on June 3 this year), baby formula, and toys were the hottest search keywords in those first 10 minutes, according to JD’s data.

Over a hundred home brands on JD.com reached double sales growth in the first 10 minutes.

Electronics products such as tablets, home use printers and projectors, ready-to-cook products, kitchenware, and home workout products such as smart mirrors and massage guns, are among the popular categories during this shopping festival.

JD Worldwide offers cross-border imports to Chinese customers. Nearly 150 overseas brands saw more than 200 percent sales growth in the first 10 minutes. Sales of nearly 100 sub-categories exceeded 100 percent growth YoY. The top 3 brands in sales are Nintendo, Swarovski and a2 milk powder.

As of 23:59 on June 18th Beijing time, JD.com reported a total transaction volume of RMB 379.3 billion yuan (US$56.7 billion) for JD 618 Grand Promotion 2022, which exceeded last year’s RMB 343.8 billion yuan.

In JD 618 this year, 26 stores exceeded 1 billion yuan sales orders, the number of new product sales increased by more than 20% year-on-year, and the turnover of more than 30 trending categories increased by more than 10 times year-on-year.

TikTok 618

During 618 last year, Douyin (Tiktok in China) e-commerce saw a total of 28.52 million hours of live streaming. This year, it reached 40.45 million hours from June 1 to June 18, an increase of more than 40% over the same period last year.

Short videos embedded with shopping carts were played 115.1 billion times.

The “search” function made an amazing contribution during this 618 event. Douyin mall led to a year-on-year sales increase of 514%, search scene led to a year-on-year increase of 293%, and the number of merchants participating in the activity increased by 159%.

Among non-internet companies, the top three advertisers are L’Oreal, Unilever, and P&G in 2021 with a total ad spend of 3.35 billion yuan, 2.97 bn yuan, and 2.04 bn yuan respectively.

Total ad spend in display advertising decreased further in 2021 by 7.6% YoY.

Read more on China’s digital advertising insights here.

The Greater Bay Area is home to more top brands than any other region in China with 134 brands represented in the ranking.

The banking sector dominates with 85 brands accounting for 22% of total brand value in ranking, with ICBC once again crowned China’s most valuable brand.

Leading fight against health emergency, pharma sector sees greatest brand value increase, up staggering 123%. Leading the way as the sector’s most valuable brand is Sinopharm, which has recorded a 58% brand value increase to US$3.2 billion.

Retail is the second most valuable sector – with 17 brands featuring and accounting for 10% of the total brand value – and also the second-fastest-growing sector, recording a cumulative brand value growth of 54%.

The top four Chinese e-commerce brands – Taobao, Tmall, Alibaba.com, and JD.com – have all seen significant brand value growth. Taobao (brand value US$53.3 billion) and Tmall (brand value US$49.2 billion) have entered the top 10 for the first time following 44% and 60% brand value increases, respectively.

Alibaba.com’s brand value has been boosted by 108% to US$39.2 billion, simultaneously propelling the brand from 22nd to 13th – a result of a huge spike in demand. JD.com enjoyed an 82% brand value increase to US$23.5 billion, following a 30% rise in its annual shopper count.

Pinduoduo is the fastest growing brand in China, up 148% to US$6.3 billion and jumping 60 places in the ranking to 63rd. Read about Pinduoduo’s road to brand upgrade.

Perseverance of brands in investment and infrastructure development pays off – solid performances across real estate and engineering & construction sectors.

Media sector surges 33%.

• WeChat is China’s and the world’s strongest brand with a top score of 95.4 out of 100 and AAA+ brand strength rating.
• TikTok/Douyin (brand value US$18.7 billion), has taken the 24th spot as the highest new entrant.
• Bilibili up 106% to US$1.9 billion

Top 500 Chinese Brands in 2021

Members can download the list here (Excel; annual and CIW Premium subscribers).

Top Global Brands 2021

US and Chinese brands account for two-thirds of the total brand value of the world’s 500 most valuable brands, according to the latest report by Brand Finance – a brand valuation consultancy.

US brands boast a cumulative brand value of a staggering US$3.3 trillion, equating to 46% of the total brand value in the ranking. Chinese brands’ total brand value is US$1.4 trillion, equating to 20%.

Apple has overtaken Amazon and Google to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable brand for the first time since 2016 with an impressive 87% brand value increase to US$263.4 billion and.

• Tesla leaves traditional auto marques behind with the fastest brand value growth in ranking, up 158%
  CBS is the fasting-falling brand in ranking, down 49%
• Airline and aerospace sectors account for 6 out of 10 fastest-falling brands in the ranking
• Hospitality suffers from travel and dining restrictions, as Marriott and Airbnb check out from ranking and Starbucks, McDonald’s, and KFC see brand values drop
• Mastercard’s Ajay Banga best among top 100 CEOs in Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2021

Top 100 best Chinese brands, led by Alibaba and Tencent

The seven countries included in the report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) are Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, Singapore, UK, and the U.S. China and the U.S. lead the global retail market with total sales of $5,681 billion and $5,638 billion respectively in 2020.

China also has the largest online retail sales of US$1,414.3 billion in 2020, followed by the U.S. with $791.7 billion.

Also read: Top e-commerce mobile shopping platforms in China 2021

China’s online sales accounted for 24.9% of the total retail market. South Korea’s online share is the highest of 25.9%.

UNCTD’s report also identified the top 13 B2C e-commerce companies by GMV, led by Alibaba, Amazon, JD, Pinduoduo, Shopify, eBay, and Meituan.

Among the top 13 companies, the ones with the highest growth in 2020 are Shopify, Walmart, and Pinduoduo.

CIW members can download the report here (CIW Standard annual billing and all CIW Premium subscribers).

Social e-commerce Pinduoduo’s road to brand upgrade

Jingdong (JD.com) total 11-day sales during Double 11 2020 grew by 32% YoY and reached 271.5 billion yuan (US$41.02 bn) in GMV. Tmall’s 11-day Singles’ Day sales reached 498.2 billion yuan (US$75.27 billion) with an increase of 26% YoY.

Tmall Historial Double 11 Sales

CIW Premium subscribers can download this year’s update on Double 11 here.

Double 11 Sales 2020

Lenovo reported total sales of 1.3 billion yuan in the first hour of the first day (1 Nov). Xiaomi received total sales of over 1 billion yuan in less than 20 minutes of the first day.

Tmall Double 11 Sales

In just two minutes, Tmall’s smart home sales exceeded 100 million yuan on the first day. And more than 1 million smart home devices were sold in one hour.

As of 1:00 a.m. on Nov 1, the total sales of Tmall Smart Speaker ranked first in the smarter speaker category. Among them, the total sales of smart screen products increased 14 times year on year.

By 1:51 am on Nov 1, 100 brands, including Apple, L’Oreal, Haier, Estee Lauder, Nike, Huawei, Midea, Lancome, Xiaomi, Adidas had a total sales of more than 100 million yuan (US$14.95 million). The most popular categories are 3C and cosmetics.

Update (11 Nov): According to the data of Taobao Live, the proportion of GMV via live streaming exceeded 60%, and the number of live streaming merchants increased by 220%. Taobao Live promoted more than 4 million employment opportunities.

Alibaba Tmall Double 11 total GMV in 2020 reached 372.3 billion yuan (US$56.46 bn) as of 00:30 am on 11 November.

Update (12 Nov): Tmall’s 11-day Singles’ Day sales reached 498.2 billion yuan (US$75.27 billion).

• 250,000 brands in total participated in Double 11 this year, of which 31,000 are overseas brands. Within these overseas brands, 2,600 participated in 11.11 for the first time.
• 357 emerging brands became top sellers in their respective subcategories. More than 1,800 emerging brands surpassed their GMV from Double 11 last year and, of these, 94 emerging brands enjoyed sales growth of over 1,000%.
• Under Alibaba’s Spring Thunder initiative, 1.2 million merchants and 300,000 factories focused on overseas trade from more than 2,000 industry clusters across China participated in Double 11.
• AI customer chatbot handled over 2.1 billion queries during the 11-day period.
• The United States was the top country selling to China by GMV.
  • Other top-selling countries to China, in alphabetical order, include: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and UK.

JD.com Double 11 Sales

Jingdong (JD) released the first day Double 11 report, and the turnover of the whole day increased by more than 90% year on year.

According to JD big data, FMCG products such as milk and dairy products, shampoo, rice, biscuit cake and paper drawing have become the top five categories in terms of sales, while 3C household appliances such as mobile phones, washing machines, flat-panel TVs, refrigerators, laptops and other household appliances rank first by total sales.

JD Plus, which recently reached 20 million members, saw a lot of activity on Nov 1st. The number of new users on Nov. 1st increased 113% YoY.

JD’s C2M home appliances, which have quickly become popular for their high cost-to-performance ratio also performed well. Twenty products from this line selected as priority quickly exceeded sales of RMB 200 million yuan on the first day.

Personal care home appliances grew 180% on the first day of sales, among which makers of hair dryers, electric razors and more such as Dyson, Philips, Flyco, Panasonic, Braun and Oral B were highest ranked in terms of sales.

Mobile phone sales in half an hour saw 314% growth. JD’s special mobile phone for the elderly saw eight times growth in the first 15 minutes, while users who participated in JD’s trade in program in the first 30 minutes increased 465%.

JD Luxury saw whole day sales on Nov. 1 up 138% YoY. In the first 30 minutes, 127 brands including Ferragamo, Ralph Lauren and Tod’s saw sales up 10 times YOY. International jewelry brands were up six times.

Update (11 Nov): JD Double 11 total GMV in 2020 since 1 November exceeded 200 billion yuan (US$30.33 bn) as of 00:09 am on 11 November. Here are a few quick highlights:

• In 6 seconds sales generated from live-streaming exceeded RMB 100 million yuan
• In the first 11 minutes, JD private label sales exceeded sales of the whole day on Nov. 11^th last year
• Haier, Midea, Gree and other brands sold over RMB 100 million yuan in products in one minute
• Huawei Mate 40 sales in 7 seconds exceeded RMB 100 million yuan
• Over 100,000 computers were sold in 10 minutes
• The turnover of JD Super, JD’s online supermarket increased 10 times YOY in the first five mins of sales
• JD Fresh increased 5 times YOY in the same timeframe
• JD’s international business saw transaction volume increase more than 120% YOY in the first 10 minutes
• JD’s imported goods supermarket saw turnover increase 2.5 times month-on-month
• 93% of first party orders placed during the Singles Day Grand Promotion have been delivered to customers in 24 hours

JD’s Consumer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) home appliances, which quickly became popular in the market because of their high-cost performance and ability to meet consumers’ demands, were highly sought after during the Singles Day period.

Twenty products hand selected by JD as development priorities quickly exceeded RMB 200 million yuan when the official sales period kicked off on Nov. 1^st.

C2M relies heavily on JD’s supply chain abilities. JD helped with sales forecasts for 33,000 brands and 5 million products and automatically deployed them to the locations nearest to users in advance.

Update (12 Nov): Jingdong (JD.com) total sales during Double 11 2020 grew by 32% YoY and reached 271.5 billion yuan (US$41.02 bn) in GMV.

Starbucks saw one-day GMV growth of over 90% YoY on 11 Nov to 200 million yuan.

Other Platforms

Suning reported 5 billion yuan sales across all channels as of 00:19 am on 11 Nov.

Gome GMV increased by 166%. In terms of online platforms, the sales of general merchandise increased by 237% month on month, and that of maternal and infant commodities increased by 314%.

Xiaomi reported total sales of 14.3 billion yuan across all platforms in the 11-day sales.

Come back soon; we’ll update with the latest information on Double 11. You can subscribe to e-newsletter or paid subscription. 

Dossier: Double 11

How JD penetrates lower-tier cities with social e-commerce initiative

Double 11 Introduction

Alibaba Tmall Double 11

Alibaba Taobao kicked off its Double Eleven Global Shopping Festival (“Double 11”), the largest annual shopping festival in China, on 21 October 2020 with new innovations and features to meet rapidly changing consumer trends.

These include the participation of Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform; broader consumer reach and bigger promotions, “double” the number of shopping windows that will spotlight more brands, products and special offers, and the popular live streaming technology creating more fun and engagement for Chinese consumers with the largest international presence to date.

For many brands, Double 11 is the single biggest growth driver every year and this year will be no exception. Check out Double 11 2019 performance.

Read our guide on Double 11 here.

Deepening Engagement to Create “Double” Opportunities

This year the Taobao/Tmall Double 11 Festival expands the concept from “single” to “double,” enabling merchants to double up on promoting their products to consumers across China not just once, but twice, according to Alibaba’s official announcement.

A new sales window will be added from November 1 to 3 on Taobao/Tmall platforms, ahead of the main event on November 11, with the aim of providing merchants, specifically new brands and small businesses, the opportunity to showcase their products and tell their brand stories amid the pandemic.

Double 11 has become one of the most important new product launch events of the year for many brands. This year, more than 2 million new products will be introduced, which is double the amount compared to last year.

Double 11 will be offering more opportunities for merchants both online and offline to engage with consumers as well as provide a better consumer experience overall.

This year’s Taobao Double 11 experience will also be enhanced by Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform, which brings together nearly 2 million local service providers offering special promotions in more than 100 cities.

Offline small- and micro-merchants across China, such as street stalls and neighborhood grocery stores, will be able to participate in the excitement of Double 11 by connecting with consumers through Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform.

Big Growth Driver for Participating Brands

Alibaba launched Spring Thunder Initiative early this year as a continuous effort on merchants empowerment and Double 11 is yet another milestone to help merchants regain growth.

This year’s Taobao Double 11 Festival will feature 14 million value-for-money products from more than 250,000 brands available on Tmall.

Also, to cater for the needs of customers in lower-tier cities, Taobao Deals’ “RMB1 Sales” campaign will enable consumers to purchase goods at huge discounts with free shipping.

To meet Chinese consumers’ increasing demand for international products, Tmall Global will bring more than 2,600 new overseas brands to Chinese consumers for the first time. Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform Kaola will also join Double 11 for the first time, featuring products from 89 countries and regions.

Live streaming and Logistics Core to the Event

Live streaming is expected to take the center stage of this year’s Taobao/Tmall Double 11.

In addition to sessions hosted by top live streamers, about 400 company executives and 300 celebrities will also hold individual live streaming sessions. Taobao Live will offer sessions ranging from cosmetics, electronics, to cars and houses.

New features like online property viewings and virtual vehicle test drives will provide a more realistic and engaging experience to help consumers with their buying decisions. Alibaba’s DAMO Academy will use artificial intelligence technology to create its first virtual live streaming host while Fliggy will host travel-related live streams.

This year’s event will have the largest international presence since it was founded in 2009.

AliExpress now sells to more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. Lazada was the first to bring the shopping festival concept to Southeast Asia across six markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Shopping festivals such as Double 11 have also become one of the key industry growth drivers as local small-and-medium businesses participate in this biggest event alongside LazMall, the region’s largest online mall with more than 18,000 local and international brands.

This year Lazada will continue its “shoppertainment” features ranging from live streaming to new consumer games and innovations such as voice search to find items.

Alibaba’s robust technology and logistics infrastructure is the backbone of the Double 11 Shopping Festival. Cainiao will charter approximately 700 flights during Double 11. More than 50% of this year’s cross-border parcels are expected to be delivered twice as fast as its usual speed.

JD Double 11

JD also kicked off its Double 11 2020 campaign on 21 October 2020. JD is expected to be the first choice of consumers buying 3C products (mostly computer, consumer electronics, and communication products) in this year’s Singles Day promotion, according to Nielsen.

Double 11 Pre-sales

Nearly 140 million items were sold during the pre-sales period from October 21st to 28th, an increase of over 42.3% from the same period last year, of which JD.com sales increased by 85.5%, according to O&O Consulting.

Products worth more than RMB 1,000 yuan accounted for 48.3% of JD’s pre-sales. Pre-sales of medicine and health care on JD increased by 378% YoY while home furnishings increased by 79.3%. One of the reasons cited for the increase is people’s yearning for a sense of security and stability after a very tumultuous start to 2020.

During the pre-sales, home appliances, computer and office supplies, maternal and child, medical and health care and other categories saw growth of over 100% YoY, indicating that after the epidemic consumer demand to “settle down” has become more important.

According to JD’s own data, from October 21st-29th advanced orders for health equipment, Chinese and western medicine, and traditional nourishment on JD’s platform increased more than 10 times compared with the same period last year.

Orders for fitness and exercise equipment increased more than three times, while health-conscious small home appliances increased four times YoY.

In terms of key sub-categories such as computers, electrical appliances and home furnishing, JD’s pre-sale volume of mid and high-end goods exceeded peers, especially in the home decoration category.

O&O data finds that consumers have a tendency to turn to JD for purchases in the durable consumer categories such as large household appliances, computers, and household appliances, with the platform making up 62.7%, 82.6% and 82.7% of pre-orders respectively by category.

As part of the transaction, Alibaba will acquire 70.94% of equity interest in A-RT Retail Holdings Limited from Auchan Retail International S.A. and its subsidiary valued at approximately HKD28.0 billion (USD3.6 billion).

A-RT holds approximately 51% of the equity interest in Sun Art. Following the transaction, Alibaba will consolidate Sun Art in its financial statements. Additionally, Peter Huang has been appointed Chairman of Sun Art in addition to his current role as Chief Executive Officer.

Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, said:

Alibaba’s strategic investment in Sun Art in 2017 was an important step in our New Retail strategy. The alliance we formed with Auchan Retail and Ruentex was instrumental in building a robust infrastructure to create opportunities and value in China’s retail sector.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Peter Huang, Sun Art has achieved impressive results in its digitalization, and pursued promising synergies with businesses across the Alibaba digital economy.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the digitalization of consumer lifestyles and enterprise operations, this commitment to Sun Art serves to strengthen our New Retail vision and serve more consumers with a fully integrated experience.

In November 2017, Alibaba Group, Auchan Retail, and Ruentex Group announced a strategic alliance to digitalize and introduce New Retail solutions at Sun Art stores, including omnichannel integration and more personalized customer experience.

Over the past three years, Sun Art has made significant progress in the digital transformation under a fast-changing market environment by leveraging resources and technology from the Alibaba ecosystem, to capitalize on the growth opportunities in China’s hypermarket and supermarket space.

Today, all Sun Art physical stores in China have been integrated into Alibaba’s Taoxianda and Tmall Supermarket platforms, providing one-hour and half-day on-demand delivery through deep collaboration with other key businesses across the Alibaba ecosystem, including Ele.me and Cainiao, offering consumers greater product selection and access.

As of June 30, 2020, Sun Art operates 481 hypermarkets and 3 mid-size supermarkets in China, with a focus on strengthening its position through small and offline community stores.

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