Festival seen as key gauge of consumer sentiment amid government push to boost domestic demand

People walk through a major shopping district in Shanghai during Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival in November 2021. [Reuters]
People walk through a major shopping district in Shanghai during Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival in November 2021. [Reuters]

China's major e-commerce platforms have launched sweeping discount campaigns ahead of Singles' Day, the country's biggest online shopping festival.

According to the Global Times, a Chinese state-run English-language newspaper, major platforms including Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall, JD.com and Douyin have begun rolling out pre-sale promotions ahead of the Nov. 11 event.

Singles' Day was launched by Alibaba in 2009 as a one-day blowout sale on Nov. 11. As the event grew in popularity, it has evolved into a monthlong industry-wide promotional campaign.

Retailers are combining cash discount coupons, limited-time subsidies, pre-order sales and government consumption-stimulus subsidies to drive purchases.

JD.com kicked off its festival sales Monday afternoon, allowing shoppers to buy at discounted prices immediately without a deposit. The platform also offered flash deals on limited quantities of products — including the iPhone 16 Pro, Dell laptops and Sony cameras — for as little as 1 yuan (about 200 won).

Alibaba's Tmall has simplified its discount structure, extending promotional benefits to single-item purchases rather than requiring customers to buy multiple products to qualify.

Douyin joined the competition by offering instant 15 percent discounts on select products. Consumer electronics and smartphones are particularly attractive this year, as shoppers can stack platform discounts on top of the Chinese government's trade-in subsidies for consumer goods, prompting platforms to compete aggressively on combined savings.

The festival will run through around Nov. 11, with the discount frenzy expected to peak between the evening of Nov. 10 and Nov. 11.

Hu Qimu, a professor at Huaqiao University, said the festival holds promise for the retail and manufacturing sectors. "It can help raise purchase conversion rates and ease the burden on logistics networks, contributing to the long-term development of the retail and manufacturing industries," he said.

However, some observers say the excitement around Singles' Day has dimmed compared with past years. "The operational model of Singles' Day has matured over a long period, leaving less room for new innovation," Hu said. "Consumers have also become more rational and are less inclined to concentrate their purchases in a short window."

The festival is drawing attention as a key indicator of Chinese consumer sentiment and household spending capacity, as Beijing pushes to stimulate domestic demand as a central economic priority.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said online retail sales of goods and services totaled 13.48 trillion yuan ($2.01 trillion) in the January–August period this year, up 4.6 percent from the same period last year. That growth rate is roughly half the pace recorded in the same period in 2024 (8.9 percent) and 2025 (9.6 percent).

"Pre-sale campaigns are an intensive test of consumer confidence," Hu said. "Platforms are trying to convert short-term discount events into sustained momentum for consumption growth."


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com