China’s largest e-commerce businesses reported promising sales figures from the mainland’s month-long mid-year 618 promotions, a significant shopping season that has served as a reliable indicator of consumer sentiment in the past.
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Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms reported that 59 brands achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) surpassing 100 million yuan (USD13.8 million) each within four hours of the sales event’s first hour on May 20.
As of June 18, 365 brands on Tmall surpassed RMB100 million in GMV, over 36,000 brands doubled their GMV, and big brands including Apple, Nike, L’Oréal, Lancôme, Adidas, and Estée Lauder surpassed RMB1 billion in GMV, according to Alibaba Group.
Brand-operated membership programs also played a pivotal role in attracting private traffic and generating sales.
As of June 16, program members contributed over RMB100 million in GMV across more than 120 brands, with over 1,100 brands generating over RMB10 million in sales from their members. This year’s 6.18 shopping festival witnessed 90 million new members joining brand-operated loyalty programs, said the group.
Meanwhile, JD.com’s campaigns, which ended at 11:59 PM on June 18, also reported over 500 million users placing orders. A total of 83 brands surpassed RMB1 billion in cumulative transaction volume, while over 150,000 small and medium-sized merchants experienced a significant 50 percent increase in sales on the platform.
“Shopping festivals in China have evolved to become frequent events for consumers looking to hunt for the best deals and help their money go further. They see this as an opportunity not just to buy items on their wish lists but also to stock up on essentials,” says Tristan Chiappini, vice president, APAC at global payments platform PPRO.
“This year, we are seeing more aggressive price cuts and discounts which suggest that e-commerce competition, between the many local marketplaces, is as fierce as it has ever been.”
Chiappini also notes that Chinese consumers have long been accustomed to shopping via social media platforms and through their smartphones. “As one of the pioneers of social commerce, China will continue to be a major driver of this growth in the APAC region. Looking at other regional marketplaces like Lazard, Shopee and Rakuten, they have now added this to their standard playbook.
In the West, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook all now have marketplace offerings. The increased variety of social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin that participate in shopping festivals means that there are more avenues for businesses to market their products and appeal to new audiences.”
Strong momentum for small businesses and emerging brands
With merchant support initiatives and the inclusion of Taobao merchants in eligibility for consumer discount vouchers, approximately 1.9 million small businesses on Taobao enjoyed growth exceeding 100 percent in GMV as of June 18.
Nearly 30,000 merchants achieved over RMB 1 million in GMV, with emerging brands on Tmall delivering outstanding participation and performance.
Surging ahead, 576 emerging Tmall brands, which have been on the platform for less than three years, secured top positions in their respective product categories in terms of sales.
Livestreaming drives engagement and sales
Taobao Live, Alibaba’s livestreaming platform, continued its growth trajectory.
The number of livestreaming channels generating over RMB100 million in GMV increased by 53 percent year-over-year.
Taobao Live’s new full-service model attracted numerous celebrities and CEOs who directly engaged with consumers. During the campaign period, 47 merchant-operated livestreaming channels achieved over RMB100 million in GMV, while 34 KOL-operated livestreaming channels also achieved the same remarkable milestone.
Livestream sales events on JD Live also saw a substantial surge, with orders placed increasing by over 200 percent.
JD Cloud’s digital representative, powered by the ChatRhino large language model, was deployed in more than 5,000 brands’ livestreaming rooms, accumulating an impressive 400,000 hours of livestreaming to attract 100 million visits, and generating over 5 million interactions, according to JD.com.