As Double 11 approaches, e-commerce platforms are gearing up for the biggest sales event of the year. Both Taobao from Alibaba and PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo are each giving away 10 billion RMB (1.41 billion USD) in different forms to support their merchants as well as rewarding customers in the mid-point between the 618 and Double 11 shopping festivals.
On 9 September, Taobao held a “9.9 10-billion gala” online for its giveaway. With the catchy tagline “subsidy great great great, prices low low low” (补贴大大大，价格低低低), Taobao’s gala launched with a promotional video that shows various scenarios the “great” can be countered by the low prices such as when the heat is “great great great”, the prices for air conditioners are “low low low”. The high-saturation, colourful and eye-catching happy-go-lucky style of the video is called “dopamine marketing” by pundits.
Meanwhile, Pinduoduo has also launched its “10 billion cut” campaign. Pinduoduo is considered to be the first to use and is most associated with the “10 billion” campaigns by some, since its iPhone subsidies in 2019. This giveaway comes in several forms, from a refund of service fees for returned items, other cuts in service charges on the platform and even free logistic services in remote areas.
Taobao has also introduced a new return process that not only protects merchants and optimises the process but also cuts down on service fees between 10% to 30%. After the ineffective battle for the lowest price online and the controversial “refund only” policies, major platforms are now striving to provide a better business environment to support their merchants. This is not only because of the competition between industrial giants such as Taobao, JD.com and Pinduoduo but also social commerce players Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese sister app), WeChat, as well as Xiaohongshu (RED), who are all gearing up for Double 11 this year for more market share.
