It's the battle for emotional fulfilment in China's longest Double 11 festival

This year's Double 11 Singles' Day shopping festival, spanning from October 8th to November 11th, marks the longest edition yet, a testament to the intensified e-commerce competition and evolving consumer landscape in China. 

With this long duration comes new opportunities and challenges for the festival. Campaign explores the key highlights and shifts shaping this year’s shopping season.

Kaitlin Zhang, CEO of Oval Branding, says this year's overarching consumer trend is "emotional fulfillment." For brands, the keyword is "treat." Zhang explains that products considered “treats” are particularly in demand, because they offer consumers both tangible value and emotional satisfaction. For example, luxury soft toy brand Jellycat surprised the market when its Tmall flagship store saw a one-minute turnover on October 21 that exceeded the total sales from the first day of last year. Within two hours, sales surged 230% year-on-year.

Ashley Dudarenok, China digital transformation expert and founder of ChoZan, agrees, noting that "emotional consumption" is on the rise, particularly among younger Chinese consumers. "Toys and plushies are popular for comfort and stress relief," she says, pointing to Jellycat’s dominance in the plush toy category, even surpassing Disney last year.

Booming categories and the lipstick effect

Taobao and Tmall's official data have identified several booming consumption trends, including designer toys for young adults, pet products, and niche home appliances and furniture. As of October 24, 284 brands surpassed $14 million in sales.

In particular, the beauty, fashion, sports & outdoor, and digital product categories have seen significant growth this year. Zhang refers to this phenomenon as the "lipstick effect," an economic theory suggesting that "people are more likely to buy small, affordable luxuries when facing economic uncertainty. Hence the rise of small luxury purchases such as lipsticks, fragrances, concerts, wellness products and pet products".

Dudarenok, with years of observation from China marketing, sums up that consumers are buying more furniture and appliances. A total of 224 brands surpassed their entire first four-hour performance from last year. "The IP economy is still thriving",  and Tmall now features over 1000 IP-based products to meet rising fan interest. She also highlights "Apple’s increasing efforts to attract budget-conscious buyers in China by making premium devices more affordable during the annual shopping festival. Apple quickly achieved one billion yuan in sales within just five minutes on Taobao and Tmall".

Geographic expansion: Hong Kong, Macau and beyond

When Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com launched the 2024 Double 11 shopping festival, Hong Kong and Macau emerged as the new competitive markets for both platforms. With over a million mainland Chinese expats living in Hong Kong, these consumers represent a valuable demographic for e-commerce platforms.

Charlene Ree, founder and CEO of EternityX, talks about this opportunity. According to her team’s research, mainland expats frequently use both local and mainland digital services, making them a prime target for engagement. She emphasises that brands should tailor their marketing narratives and product offerings to resonate with female consumers, tapping into the influential "She Economy."

In September, Taobao Hong Kong announced a RMB 1 billion (US$140 million) investment to enhance user benefits and services. This includes a large-scale, limited-time free shipping program, incentives for new users, red packets for purchases, cross-border return services, and improvements to self-pickup options.

CK Chan, head of Hong Kong and Macau for Taobao Tmall World, adds that free shipping had already been offered on a smaller scale over the past four years, with positive feedback from long-term users. By expanding this initiative, Chan believes the platform will not only boost purchase frequency among existing users but also attract new ones.

David Ye, general manager of Taobao Tmall World, is optimistic about continued growth in Hong Kong. He tells Campaign that since free shipping launched for the SAR in October, both turnover and orders [on the platform] have seen double-digit year-on-year growth, with the pace accelerating. 

Data from the first week of October on Taobao Tmall Hong Kong shows a doubling of new users compared to the same period last year. The daily average GMV generated by new users has also spiked to six times the amount recorded in the previous year.

JD.com, too, saw a threefold year-on-year increase in Singles’ Day sales in Hong Kong and Macau during the first four hours.

Dudarenok, author and China digital expert predicts that countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea—now part of the “free shipping zone”—will see a sharp rise in new users as well. Early data from Singapore and Hong Kong already show a doubling of new consumers compared to last year.

L-R: Ashley Dudarenok, Charlene Ree, Elisa Harca, Kaitlin Zhang

The resurgence of KOLs and live streaming

As competition intensifies among platforms, KOLs (key opinion leaders) and live streaming are making a strong comeback. Despite controversies and backlash, live-streaming sensation Li Jiaqi remains one of China’s top KOLs. On October 14, he returned with a revamped strategy, distributing RMB 500 million (US$70 million) in "red envelopes" during his live stream and generating over RMB 100 million (US$14 million) in GMV during the first pre-sale.

The success of brands like Cetaphil, Valentino, and L'Oréal, which sold out within seconds during his live stream, is evidence to the effectiveness of this approach. Meanwhile, Xinba, previously banned from Douyin’s Double 11, returned to live streaming and generated over RMB 6.4 billion (US$900 million) in GMV, once again, highlighting the enduring power of top KOLs.

Zhang emphasises the continued importance of live streaming as a key marketing channel, but stresses the need for brands to prioritise authenticity and engaging content to resonate with increasingly discerning consumers who are becoming more skilled at research and comparison shopping. 

Elisa Harca, CEO of Red Ant Asia, observes that KOL live-stream shopping is transitioning into a more refined phase. She adds, "Platforms like Xiaohongshu (Red) are evolving, where live sales now incorporate well-paced planning, including high-quality teaser videos with refined content to raise interest and boost livestream reservation rates, the interactive promotion features that go beyond the discount, and strategic advertising boosts. With the added presence of more celebrities in the Xiaohongshu (Red)  livestreams, this ecosystem still shows strong potential for growth while also intensifying competition".

Xiaohongshu research data from Charlene Ree, EternityX

A shopping bag full of challenges and opportunities 

What started as Double 11 or Singles' Day, has grown from Alibaba's modest shopping event into a cultural phenomenon that dominates China’s e-commerce landscape. For over a decade, it has been the crown jewel for platforms like Taobao and Tmall. But as the festival matures, so do its challenges.

As reported by Campaign earlier, this year, JD.com found itself in hot water after partnering with comedian Yang Li, and sparked a widespread social media controversy. Meanwhile, consumer frustrations over pricing discrepancies have further tested the patience of shoppers. Chinese media outlet The Paper reported incidents where pre-sale prices were higher than the final order prices. Tmall's customer service offered little in the way of explanation, simply suggesting refunds and re-orders, stating only that the platform "apologises and is committed to improving its functions."

Despite some claims that the fierce price wars between platforms might be cooling, the reality is more complex. According to Harca, the battle over pricing "continues to rage" with no signs of resolution. She notes that platforms like Taobao and Tmall are still grappling with inconsistent discount mechanisms, which only end up frustrating consumers. Harca argues that, as competitors like Douyin and Xiaohongshu gain market share, Taobao would benefit from simplifying its promotions. "Clearer structures would boost consumer confidence, ease decision-making, and foster loyalty through transparency and trust," she explains.

Adding to the mixed signals, while platforms release optimistic data, Ebiquity China predicts a slowdown for the 2024 Double 11, forecasting low single-digit growth. With rising competition in e-commerce advertising and the growing dominance of social commerce, Ebiquity believes the "fervour of the Double 11 carnival is cooling down," as brands and platforms rework their strategies.

Yet, despite the challenges, numbers from key platforms tell a different story.

As of October 20, Douyin’s GMV (gross merchandise volume) had surged 91% year-on-year, with search-related GMV up 77%. Nearly 8,000 brands saw their transaction volumes increase by over 200%, while more than 10,000 brands doubled their sales compared to last year.

Kuaishou also posted record-breaking numbers on the first day of Singles’ Day, with GMV up 94% year-on-year. Over 5,900 brands on the platform experienced more than 100% growth. Similarly, Xiaohongshu (Red) reported that between October 12 and 20, the number of merchants with transactions exceeding RMB 10 million (US$1.4 million) was 3.3 times higher than the same period last year. The number of buyers spending over RMB 5 million (US$700,000) rose sixfold.

In the face of this competition, Tmall is ramping up its efforts. Partnering with Bilibili, it launched a live streaming and product promotion event featuring 10,000 content creators. Bilibili, in turn, is investing RMB 3 billion (US$4.2 billion) in targeted traffic to support high-quality content. During this year’s June shopping festival, Bilibili’s GMV increased by 146%—a trend that Tmall hopes to replicate during Double 11.

As the festival continues to evolve over time, one thing is clear: while Singles’ Day is no longer the unchallenged event it once was, it is still capable of driving record-breaking sales—if platforms can keep up with the ever evolving consumer tastes.