On 24 April, Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao of Alibaba hosted its “product selection” conference for its streaming arm during the 618 Shopping Festival this year. At the conference with partners, Mengxin, the operations manager of Taobao Livestream, announced that the platform is investing 2 billion RMB (274.44 million USD) in cash in 618 with the aim to grow users, viral merchandise, streamers and merchant-led livestreams.
On the previous day, Alimama, Alibaba’s digital marketing branch, announced a 3 billion RMB (411.63 million USD) subsidy for merchants in the form of “red envelopes”. This would make Alibaba’s total subsidies for the 618 Festival this year 5 billion RMB (686.09 million USD). At the same event, Alimama also announced that its AI services will be available for merchants this 618. From image-to-video AIGC to AI-powered search features, Alimama provides AI services for both content and merchandise.
Meanwhile, JD.com, the arch-rival of Alibaba, renewed its partnership with BiliBili for another 618 to combine “seeding” (种草) content and e-commerce to keep up with Taobao’s livestream content ecosystem. Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, has also begun to drum up interest for its 618 campaign with promotional livestreams to recruit merchants. Rednote, on the other hand, released a guide for merchants and streamers to prepare for the annual shopping fest.
Commentators observe that this year, preparations for 618 from major platforms started about 10 days earlier than last year. The “hardest” 618 in 2024 saw 742.8 billion RMB (101.93 billion USD) sold across platforms in total, down 7% year-on-year, and was the first ever 618 to see a decline in sales. It is little wonder that platforms have started planning earlier, and it’s worth continued monitoring to see how the new strategies will work.
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