Despite low consumer sentiment and discount fatigue, Chinese spending during the country’s biggest shopping event doesn’t seem to be all doom and gloom. Initially conceived as a celebration of singlehood to counterbalance Valentine’s Day, Double 11 has grown into a weeks-long online shopping festival that this year began mid-October, making it the longest Singles’ Day sales period ever. Surpassing expectations The country’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has reported a “histo
historic high” in consumer participation and robust growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV) during its 16th annual Double 11 Shopping Festival. According to the company, 45 brands surpassed RMB1 billion (US$138.2 million) in GMV, including Apple, Haier, Xiaomi, Nike and Wuliangye.
Alibaba’s number of 88VIP members who placed orders increased by more than 50 per cent year-on-year. The paid membership program reached more than 42 million members this year.
“88VIP members have the greatest consumption power on our platform, and served as a key growth driver for brands during the event, while the enthusiasm shown by the younger generation of consumers was also highly encouraging,” said Bo Liu, VP of Alibaba Group and president of Tmall.
Meanwhile, JD.com reported a more than 20 per cent year-on-year increase in shoppers during the shopping event. JD Live’s livestreams experienced a 3.8-fold growth in orders. Additionally, more than 17,000 brands witnessed their transaction volume expand by over five times, while the transaction volume for more than 30,000 small and medium-sized merchants demonstrated a 200 per cent year-over-year increase.
“While GMV may show growth — reflecting transactions before cancellations and returns — this increase does not indicate true commercial success or consumer confidence,” Jaques Roizen, MD Consulting at Digital Luxury Group, told Inside Retail.
He further added it highlights a system that encourages customers to exploit promotional offers, leading to inflated GMV figures that fail to translate into genuine net revenue growth, at great expenses for the brands.
According to JD.com, transactions for 519 home and appliance categories surged by 200 per cent year-on-year.
“People are willing to upgrade big-ticket items — such as home appliances — the trade-in policies are working well. People are willing to upgrade for higher quality, newer and better green efficiency,” Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China-based digital consultancy ChoZan, told Inside Retail.
“In terms of products, past Singles’ Day data shows that consumers tend to purchase essential items during these seasonal shopping events,” Taranjeet Singh, MD at Venture Markets, APAC at Criteo, said before the festive season.
“We expect this to continue this year given ongoing inflation. At the same time, shoppers with higher spending power tend to look out for luxury items during this season too.”
Many consumers are focusing more on stocking up on everyday items like dry shampoo, toothpaste, and tissue paper, according to Dudarenok.
JD.com’s supermarket division JD Super introduced more than 20,000 product bundles across categories such as baby and maternal care, home cleaning, and food. These bundles achieved a 50 per cent increase in transaction volume.
A shift in purchasing decisions
A Bain survey conducted before the Singles’ Day sales festivals in late October revealed declining enthusiasm among Chinese shoppers. Only 49 per cent expressed excitement for the event, down from 53 per cent last year and 76 per cent in 2021.
Dudarenok said consumer confidence in China averaged 109.5 points from 1991 until 2024, reaching an all-time high of 127 points in February 2021 and a record low of 85.5 points in November 2022. As consumer sentiment shifted, consumer spending choices became more rational.
“These 11.11 consumers are much calmer. Chinese consumers are not caught up in the ‘buy buy buy frenzy,’ they are hunting for more expensive products that they need vs just lower prices,” said Dudarenok.
“They don’t need to wake up in the middle of the night to make the purchase or be afraid the item they are after is sold out 10 seconds in. Fewer consumers prepare for 11.11 these days like they used to – with long Excel sheets with wish list links and platform discount rules, too.”
She also added consumers paid more attention to the practicality and cost-effectiveness of products, doing thorough research before making a purchase to choose items that they truly need. This indicates that Chinese consumers remain active in retail but with more discerning spending habits amidst economic challenges.
