With China’s Double 11 shopping festival just around the corner, major e-commerce platforms are gearing up for a new wave of business competition. This year, Taobao, JD.com, Douyin, and Kuaishou have all launched new business policies and subsidies ahead of the festival.
Taking the lead in Double 11 so far is JD.com, which has stepped up its game in terms of increasing traffic by more than 20%. On September 7, JD.com announced its “four new measures” for this year’s Double 11, including “recruiting new merchants, establishing new mechanisms, launching new services, and opening new growth”.
Following JD.com, Taobao and Tmall released 12 measures to support sellers’ Double 11 operations, from reducing pressure on merchants to prepare for the shopping festival to offering product services and promotions.
Further heating up the competition is Douyin and Kuaishou, who are two growing new forces in the industry. In 2021, the number of Douyin e-commerce merchants grew 3.5 times that of 2020. Meanwhile, Kuaishou e-commerce had more than 200 brands with a monthly gross merchandise value of over 6 billion RMB ($837 million). Coincidentally, both Douyin and Kuaishou will launch their own in-app malls ahead of Double 11, challenging e-commerce giants such as Taobao and Tmall.
Over the course of its fourteen years of operation, the meaning of Double 11 for consumers, platforms, and merchants alike has shifted greatly, losing a bit of its appeal along the way. For consumers, it has changed to the pursuit of low prices and quality service. However, new players could help promote healthy competition beneficial to the e-commerce industry in the long term.
All in all, with new policies and players in place, the shopping festival is expected to play a key role in kick-starting the business growth of platforms and merchants.
