On 18 June, the longest 618 Shopping Festival ended. Thanks to the extended duration of the event, sales reached a record high. The gross merchandise value (GMV) this year across platforms was 855.6 billion RMB (119 million USD), up 15.2% year-on-year (YoY). However, pundits have pointed out that the daily transactions dropped to 23.1 billion RMB (3.19 billion USD) from 24.8 billion RMB (3.42 billion USD) in 2024.
Thanks to the extended duration of the event, sales reached a record high.
JD.com, the platform that started the 618 Shopping Festival 18 years ago, saw the number of users who made purchases grow by over 100%. The combined number of orders on JD.com online and offline, as well as takeaway, surpassed 2.2 billion. The JD.com app saw record-breaking users. Livestream orders grew 210% from last year, while JD Video also saw its orders increase by 251%. Meanwhile, Tmall from Alibaba reported that 453 brands reached over 100 million RMB (13.93 million USD) in transactions, up 24% YoY.
Subsidies and fatigue
The state-backed consumer subsidies for electrical appliances, consumer electronics and homeware were one of the main contributors to the 618 Shopping Festival this year. On the one hand, it is part of the reason JD.com, a platform with roots in appliances and electronics, thrived with quarterly revenue up 13.4% and 16% YoY in Q1 and Q2. But on the other hand, the subsidies introduced at the beginning of this year have led many consumers in the market for new subsidised goods to make their purchases already.
Partly due to the subsidies and partly due to a strategic shift, we have been seeing consistently low prices all year round in various categories and on different platforms. There have also been anecdotal reports that some items enjoyed less discount than the International Women’s Day (IWD) sales in March. The long sales period also desensitised people, making the event less exciting.
Top streamers: exit?
This year, we are seeing two interpretations regarding top streamers. Commentators in China have been calling for an end to top streamers. But this year, the opinion is divided on whether they’ve started phasing out or simply changed the way they operate.
First of all, many big names participated in the 618 livestream sales, such as Xinba (辛巴), Austin Li Jiaqi (李佳琦) and Dong Yuhui (董宇辉) of Walking with Hui (与辉同行). Many of them significantly reduced their presence on their channel, especially Xinba and Dong Yuhui. Xinba only appeared on 2 streams in May, and Dong appeared on 9 livestreams over the course of the festival, while Li Jiaqi appeared on 6 in June. However, Xinba sold a whopping 4 billion RMB (556.44 million USD) on his first stream, while Li Jiaqi earned between 2.5 and 3.5 billion RMB (347.78 and 486.89 million USD) and Dong, 176 million RMB (24.48 million USD).
Top Streamers: pursued by AI?
Meanwhile, the top streamers are growing their team to make up for their reduced presence. Xinba’s apprentice Dandan (蛋蛋) earned an impressive 1 billion RMB (139.11 million USD) on her first stream this 618, proving that it is doable. However, Luo Yonghao (罗永浩) of Be Friends (交个朋友) took a different path.
On 15 June, Luo appeared on Baidu’s livestream sales channel. But despite his natural interaction with his co-host, he only knew minute details about the products and his facial expressions were slightly off. It turns out that Luo did not personally appear on the stream, but rather his digital human doppelgänger. The co-host was also a digital human. A 97,000-word script and the 8,300 movements were all created by AI, uncanny to Luo’s style and mannerisms. He later posted on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, that he was stunned by the result. The stream attracted 1.3 million views, and the GMV reached 55 million RMB (765,110.94 USD). The stunt proved another way to replace top streamers in 2025.
But a less dramatic use of AI was also impressive this year.
But a less dramatic use of AI was also impressive this year. AIGC tools, such as Taobao’s image-to-video generation tool, helped many apparel merchants create modelling videos from photoshoots. Alimama, the marketing wing of Alibaba, also provided store management tools for merchants to find the right audience, including the creation of marketing assets.
Other trends this year included more microdramas being deployed for sales, and food delivery platform Meituan joined the festival with its “instant retail” arm. Also, multi-channel network (MCN) agencies are doubling down on launching their own brands, such as Li Jiaqi’s Mei One, expanding its Mei One Selection range, while East Buy is launching its own brand of sanitary pads.
Rednote did not participate in the 618 sales at all, but soft-launched its new social commerce feature, the “friendly market” in June to showcase what its e-commerce future will look like. As many pundits commented, the focus this year is on people, and how to reach the right audience. This is shown in how Rednote parted ways with the festival, as well as Alibaba providing AI tools for its merchants. Perhaps we’ll see a different 618 next year or a more diverse sales strategy that is not anchored to large-scale festivals.