Double 11, a festival entitled Singles’ Day that celebrates people not in relationships, scheduled on 11 November is the biggest e-commerce event in China.
On Double 11, leading platforms like Taobao, JD.com, and Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) offer attractive discounts to entice shoppers to spend big during this celebration.
This year, Taobao kicked off its Double 11 on 20 October with an early purchase date, by allowing customers to pay with two installments, rather than all in one on 11 November.
China’s top two livestreamers on Taobao sold beauty products equating to almost 20 billion RMB ($2.94 billion) throughout their 13-hour live broadcast on 20 October.
Homegrown beauty brands stood out on Taobao
As a reaction to Chinese people fighting national beauty anxiety, skincare and cosmetics are in even higher demand than usual, with e-commerce festivals becoming the best way for brands to sell their latest lines of products.
On Taobao’s kick-off day (20 October), foreign brands like Estee Lauder, Lancôme, and Kiehl’s ranked at the top of the sales list as usual.
However, against the Guochao trend in China, homegrown brands also stood out this year and made better sales levels than in previous years. With a focus on sensitive skin, Winona entered the top ten sellers and sold over 700 million RMB ($109.6 million) in the first hour alone on their skincare range.
In addition, QuadHA, backed by a well-established Chinese biotech company, also hit 200 million RMB ($31.32 million) of sales in just 35 minutes.
Douyin leverages its 600 million daily active users to rival Taobao
As a newcomer in the e-commerce market, Douyin has sought to keep up with the competition, leveraging its 600 million daily active users to march into the e-commerce industry.
This Double 11, Douyin started its shopping spree even earlier than Taobao, an opening night gala on 15 October attracted 230 million viewers and since then, the platform saw a streamer whose Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) exceeded 100 million RMB ($15.66 million) almost every single day.
In terms of Douyin, the top five influencers sell a wide range of products covering items such as snacks, cosmetics, jewelry, and pets supplies.
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