As an important e-commerce competition, this year's "618" shopping festival has a stronger "gunpowder flavor" than in previous years. Various e-commerce platforms have coincidentally cancelled pre-sale mechanisms, accelerated the pace of promotions, and made efforts to compete for more consumers with reduced traffic dividends by focusing on "low prices".

Experts say that online markets are of great significance and an important channel for promoting consumption. E-commerce platforms focus on optimizing consumer experience, improving cost-effectiveness, and making shopping enjoyable and comfortable for consumers. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the scale of China's online consumer market continues to expand. From January to May 2024, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 11.5% year-on-year, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from January to April, accounting for 24.7% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society.

Excessive hoarding of food, drink, and daily necessities

This year's 618 shopping festival, various e-commerce platforms are focusing on low prices and increasing investment. JD.com shouted the slogan of "cheap and good", with "cheap" ranking first; Taotian Group announced a "historic huge investment" this year; Pinduoduo has launched an "automatic price matching" system, which automatically changes to a lower price whenever a cheaper similar product is found in the market.

The "2024 China Consumer Trends Research Report" previously released by McKinsey China believes that Chinese consumers will show a trend of "fewer but more refined" product choices in 2024.

Faced with such a consumer mentality, various e-commerce platforms have followed Pinduoduo's example and "billions of subsidies" have become the norm. JD.com stated that during this year's "618" shopping festival, the number of billion dollar subsidized products launched on the platform increased by over 100% year-on-year, while the number of users receiving billion dollar subsidies increased by over 100% year-on-year. Tmall stated that as the most heavily invested "618" event, this year Tmall will invest an additional 15 billion yuan in red envelopes on top of a 50% discount for orders over 300. At the same time, 88VIP will upgrade its "unlimited return package shipping fee" rights to stimulate consumer vitality. Taotianze got through its cooperation with Tiktok, upgraded its cooperation with more than 200 Internet platforms, such as Tencent Advertising, Zhihu, and Station B, to help merchants introduce the whole network passenger flow.

On the afternoon of June 18th, Liu Qi, the director of JD Consumer and Industrial Development Research Institute, introduced the consumption characteristics of this year's "618" to reporters, saying, "In the past, during the big consumer promotion, people bought more expensive or fashionable products. Before this year's" 618 ", we conducted a survey of over 10000 consumers and found that" eating, drinking, and daily use "became the most concerned and planned category for consumers to place orders

Research shows that over 60% of consumers adhere to the consumption attitude of "being frugal and practical first", and three-quarters of consumers say they will stock up during the "618" promotion period, mainly household cleaning and personal care products. According to JD data, as of the afternoon of June 18th, the order volume of dry goods, plant-based beverages, and cleaning paper products in the north and south all increased by over 50% year-on-year.

Domestic brands are deeply rooted in people's hearts

In recent years, with the increasing popularity of Chinese manufacturing brands, the trend of domestic consumption has become significant. Liu Qi introduced that 70% of the top 100 popular brands on JD.com during this year's 618 shopping festival were domestic brands. Meanwhile, the post-90s and post-00s generations have become the main force in domestic consumption.

From the supply side, during this year's 618 shopping festival, the variety of JD's' New Chinese Style 'products increased by 120% year-on-year, and consumers also showed great enthusiasm for these products, "said Liu Qi.

According to Tmall data, during this year's 618 shopping festival, domestic products accounted for over 60% of the "Billion Yuan Club" brand on Tmall platform. During the 618 shopping festival, which coincides with graduation season, many graduates choose to wear "new Chinese style" outfits and take graduation photos. Since the launch of the "618" shopping festival, the sales of Chinese style clothing on Taobao have grown significantly, and many graduates choose to purchase Chinese style items such as cloud shoulders and hairpin hats to match their academic gowns.

Chen Lifen, Director of the Modern Service Industry Department of the Circulation Industry Promotion Center of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that in recent years, there has been innovation in improving the quality of domestic products, and consumers' awareness and trust in domestic products have continued to increase. Coupled with emotional resonance with local culture, "localization" of consumption will become a new trend.

Previously, some brands implemented a "sinking" strategy, hoping to capture the consumer market in third - and fourth tier cities. Nowadays, many domestic brands in third - and fourth tier cities are leveraging online channels to achieve brand growth. With consumers pursuing cost-effectiveness, they are breaking through the consumer market in first - and second tier cities.

A few cents of ice cream and one yuan of mineral water have almost disappeared from offline supermarkets in first - and second tier cities in recent years, "said Wang Zhengtian, deputy general manager of Henan Simite Food Co., Ltd. His company has been producing Siyuan brand instant noodles priced at around one yuan for thirty years, mainly targeting third - and fourth tier cities and rural markets. Nowadays, through the layout of online channels, it has re entered the vision of consumers in first and second tier cities and is widely loved.

Wang Zhengtian introduced that during this year's "618" shopping festival, the transaction volume of Siyuan brand instant noodles in JD.com supermarket increased by 126% year-on-year, and the number of users increased by 178%. Last year, our online and offline sales reached 1.5 billion yuan, and this year's sales target is 2 billion yuan

New consumption hotspots emerge endlessly

The super large scale Chinese market has never lacked new consumer hotspots, and there have been some new changes during this year's 618 shopping festival. Liu Qi stated that products such as AI computers under the AI wave and portable charging guns under the new energy vehicle boom saw significant sales growth during this year's 618 shopping festival.

According to data from Tmall platform, during this year's "618" shopping festival, there were over 50 "trend categories" with transaction volumes exceeding 1 billion yuan. Products such as washing and drying sets, hiking shoes, DSLR lenses, mirrorless cameras, sun protection clothing, esports equipment, and road bikes all had transaction volumes exceeding 1 billion yuan.

In addition, products such as viewing bananas and desktop pine trees have repeatedly topped Taobao's hot searches. During this year's 618 shopping festival, single store sales of ornamental bananas exceeded 100000 units.

Since the beginning of this year, the consumer market has shown an overall trend of recovery and improvement. This is a manifestation of China's advantage in a super large market, and also the result of the sustained recovery of endogenous economic momentum and the continuous release of consumption potential. "Liu Aihua, Chief Economist of the National Bureau of Statistics and Director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Economy, said at a press conference of the State Council Information Office on June 17 that looking ahead to the next stage, although residents' consumption ability and confidence still need to be further improved, there are also many favorable factors supporting the sustained growth of China's consumer market. For example, the sustained effectiveness of policies and measures to promote consumption, the rapid growth of new types of consumption, and the continuous optimization of market supply. Overall, these factors will support the accelerated recovery of the consumer market in the next stage.