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No more midnight rush: How Singles’ Day is being rebuilt for China’s cautious consumers

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The strategic overhaul follows a drop in the festival's annual sales growth from 26.6 percent in 2024 to 14.2 percent last year, despite generating 1.695 trillion yuan across platforms. Platforms like Alibaba and JD.com are responding by eliminating friction points like complex cross-store coupons and presale deposits. Livestream marketing is simultaneously transitioning from aggressive sales tactics to calm, choreographed product presentations. However, lingering coupon fatigue and reduced urgency mean many cautious buyers still purchase goods only on an as-needed basis.

Key points

  • Major e-commerce platforms are dropping complex discount rules in favor of straightforwar…: Major e-commerce platforms are dropping complex discount rules in favor of straightforward price reductions to retain weary consumers.
  • Competitors like JD.com have largely discarded traditional presale deposit requirements t…: Competitors like JD.com have largely discarded traditional presale deposit requirements to focus on selling available inventory directly.
  • Livestream commerce is moving away from loud, high-pressure sales pitches toward sophisti…: Livestream commerce is moving away from loud, high-pressure sales pitches toward sophisticated and polished presentations.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Eighteen editions on, China’s biggest annual shopping festival is growing up. As the sales frenzy gives way to longer promotions and more cautious spending, brands and platforms are rethinking how to win over shoppers.

SHANGHAI: Three models in wool coats stand before a wall of glass bricks as a cinema camera rolls past.

Behind a partition, operators in headsets monitor a bank of screens.

Nearly 400,000 people are watching the livestream by Chinese fashion brand CHICJOC on online shopping platform Taobao.

One viewer asks to see the grey outerwear. Another wants to know what to pair with an oatmeal coat. In the corner of the screen, a coat is listed for 3,499.99 yuan (US$526).

For CHICJOC co-founder Wei Yujing, 36, the carefully choreographed livestream is a far cry from the frantic sales race that once defined Singles’ Day.

Back in 2017 or 2018, orders opened as Nov 11 began, she recalled, with Taobao ranking brands by sales for all to see.

“It felt like the Olympic Games, with every brand starting from the same line on that one day,” she…

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