China's 618 Shopping Festival Sees Weak Sales, Total Revenue Nearly Flat Year-on-Year

The month-long "618" shopping festival, a major event for Chinese e-commerce platforms, concluded blandly this year with total sales revenue remaining almost unchanged compared to last year. Many netizens complained about the lack of impactful discounts and the complexity of the promotions. Some also questioned whether the lackluster sales were related to official talks with platforms urging them to avoid "involutionary" competition.

According to Reuters, data provider Syntun announced on June 22 that during China's 618 shopping festival, the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for major e-commerce platforms including Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Douyin was 863.6 billion yuan (approximately 4.033 trillion New Taiwan dollars), a figure nearly identical to last year's 855.6 billion yuan.

The 618 shopping festival, originally a single-day event launched by JD.com to celebrate its founding on June 18, 1998, has evolved into a month-long promotional campaign spanning across major e-commerce platforms. Syntun's statistics cover sales data from May 13 to June 18, a period of 37 days.

Syntun stated that if delivery and group buying services are included, the GMV for this year's 618 reached 934 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%.

The report indicated that large shopping festivals in China are increasingly finding it difficult to recreate past consumption booms. Extended promotional periods, coupled with weak consumer confidence, have made people more conservative about non-essential purchases, even when faced with discounts. China's total retail sales of consumer goods in May decreased by 0.6% year-on-year, marking the first decline since December 2022.

On the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, many posts complained that this year's 618 was "boring." Some netizens expressed that the promotional rules across major platforms were complex this year, yet the discounts lacked sincerity. "A flurry of activity like a fierce tiger, but in the end, after calculating, I only saved two yuan and fifty cents," one user wrote, expressing disappointment after anticipating the event for a long time without making any purchases.

This post resonated with many netizens, with comments like "the quietest 618 ever" and "no one in my social circle is posting their shopping hauls anymore." Additionally, numerous netizens reported that items they added to their shopping carts in advance actually increased in price on the 618 day, and even after using coupons, the purchase was not cheaper than usual. Some also speculated that the weak promotions might be related to platforms being "summoned for malicious price reductions."

On June 11, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation summoned five e-commerce platforms, including Taobao (Tmall), JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, urging them to avoid "involutionary" competition. The authorities specifically pointed out that Taobao's widely advertised "6.18 10 Billion Subsidy" campaign, which began in May, was actually a long-term marketing activity, and the platform had repeatedly refused to provide the actual subsidy amounts invested during the "6.18" period and the proportion of contributions between the platform and merchants.

The Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation also emphasized that all platforms should deeply understand the harm of "involutionary" competition and shift price competition towards a focus on innovation and services. (Editor: Lu Jia-rong) 1150623

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