Reports of Taobao’s Double 12 cancellation have been grossly exaggerated. Taobao has clarified that although the aptly named Double 12 is not in use this year, the shopping festival centring on 12 December is very much alive. Whilst the Good Price festival was a sideshow for 618, Double 12’s newly named “Year-end Good Price” takes centre stage as the theme and title of the sales event.
A Taobao and Tmall Group statement said: “The newly launched ‘Year-end Good Price Festival’ is a continuation and enhancement of the Good Price Festival, showcasing Taobao’s diversified products and opportunities for various merchants.” The new and improved “Double 12” started at 8 pm on 9 December and will welcome its grand finale on 12 December, the same day as with previous years.
One of the things that consumers had concerns about when it came to e-commerce sales events was the complicated discount systems. Since Double 11 this year, Taobao and Tmall aimed to create more streamlined discounts by simplifying the requirements. For the Year-end Good Price festivities, Taobao continued its Double 11 starting discount strategy of 15% off, which doesn’t require a minimum purchase amount. It also added a discount of 30 RMB (4.18 USD) off for every 200 RMB (27.87 USD) spent across merchants to further entice spending.
Subsidies for merchants and “red envelope” prizes were also available, as Taobao’s main strategy was focused on low prices. Taobao also opened special platforms for 20 industries and included B2B-friendly bulk buying for goods such as meat, wigs, clothing, luggage and flowers. That’s why this year Taobao attracted a large number of merchants and increased the variety of goods. The number of items participating in the festival grew by nearly 20% compared to Double 12 last year.
Double 12 was previously focused on Taobao merchants. However, for this year’s Year-end Good Price, brands from Tmall participated as well. For the first time, consumers saw the likes of Nintendo Switch, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max and La Mer’s Treatment Lotion included in the sales. Therefore, despite much less fanfare compared to before, the Year-end Good Price event was still welcomed by merchants and consumers alike.
