Now in its 16th year, Double 11 was a shopping bonanza like no other. As is the case every year, any company that is in any way associated with China’s young consumers was keen to understand how Gen Z responded to Single’s Day. Soul App, which is the digital home to a large number of China’s Zoomers conducted a survey to understand the tides and trends of Double 11.
This year, the shopping festival started about one month before Nov 11th, with Douyin sounding the bugle as early as Oct 14th, which made this year’s Double 11 the longest iteration of the shopping fest. How the one-month run would impact customer sentiment had industry watchers divided.
Many had presumed that the constant barrage of promotional sights and sounds might lead to consumer fatigue. But, Liu Dingding, a retail industry veteran had told Global Times that the extra days would boost sales because it would give buyers more time to make their purchases and hence attract a broader consumer demographic.
Also, it would afford sellers more time to fully prepare for the shopping festival while easing the burden on logistics companies. The results of Soul App’s report which involved more than 3,000 youngsters proved Liu Dingding’s right. Almost 80% of the survey participants were neutral about the extended time period or considered it a positive change. In fact, around 16% were glad to have more time for shopping.
That said, initially Single’s Day 2024 failed to garner as much buzz on social media as it had in previous years. This led many to believe that the allure of Double 11 may be fading away but that was far from true. This year, the shopping festival raked in a mammoth RMB 1.44 trillion in sales, which was a massive increase of 26% over the figures of 2023.
Soul App’s report attested to the success of Double 11, 2024 as 90% of the survey respondents stated that they had participated in the month-long retail bonanza.
Given those eyebrow-raising numbers, of course, the festival can be called the largest of its kind in the world, which explains why Double 11 is so crucial for Chinese retailers and e-commerce platforms.
The sales volume achieved through the few weeks of Double 11 is so outsized that it has a direct impact on how the books of these companies look at the end of the financial year. Moreover, the performance of both e-commerce platforms and retailers during this period serves as a barometer for investors who want to assess the viability of these businesses.
In fact, such is the power of Double 11 that managed to get the e-commerce platforms in China to play together to draw in customers in a year.
Having said that, according to Soul App’s survey, along with Alibaba and JD.com, other platforms such as Pinduoduo and Douyin also fared exceptionally well. As far as consumers were concerned they chose platforms based on three factors:
- How much could be saved with discounts: Almost 40% picked a platform based on this factor.
- How easily they could opt for a refund or replacement: For another 40% this was the deciding factor.
- How extensive was the product range offered by the seller: For nearly 35% of the buyers this was the crucial aspect.
In terms of actual products/services bought, early on the CEO of Oval Branding Kaitlin Zhang had predicted that this year’s Double 11 would be all about “emotional fulfillment”. She had explained to Campaign Asia that products and services which consumers deem as treats will be in high demand because they not only offer tangible value but also emotional satisfaction.
Once again, the results of Soul App’s survey proved this observation correct, as almost 50% of the respondents admitted to allocating at least 30% of their Double 11 budget to “Happy Spending” or “Feel Good Products”. Around 13% of the survey participants announced their intention to spend their entire budget on such emotional purchases.
This is in line with the views of Ashley Dudarenok, the founder of ChoZan who had pointed out that “emotional consumption” is on the rise in China, particularly among the country’s youth.
And nothing proves that statement true more than the massive sales of Jellycat, a soft toy brand that saw its sales surging by a whopping 230% within 2 hours on October 21st. In fact, the company’s turnover on that one day exceeded its annual sales revenue of 2023.
But, toys and plushies were not the only hot-selling items this Double 11. Dave Xie of Oliver Wyman, while discussing high-performing sectors, stated that home appliances, beauty and cosmetics, consumer electronics, pet supplies, and outdoor gear had all raked in the big bucks.
The keen interest in home appliances and consumer electronics was largely owed to the national consumption subsidy policy. According to Alibaba, coupled with platform benefits, government subsidies led to a monumental increase of 700% in home appliance- presales.
Mostly young men opted for these high ticket purchases which reflected in their average spending. As per Soul App’s report, men splurged around 4800 RMB on their Single’s Day purchases which was higher than the women’s average budget of 4300 RMB.
Despite these conspicuous spurts and pockets of growth, Ashley Dudarenok observed that the overall sentiment of Double 11, 2024 wasn’t a buying frenzy propelled by the desire to purchase at low costs.
Dudarenok noted that instead, things were calmer and more contained this year as consumers opted to buy the products they needed while focusing on high quality and fair prices. In other words, it wasn’t about picking up any odd product with a low price tag.
In general, the measures implemented by the government most certainly had a bearing on consumer spending during Double 11. As noted by Li Chang’an of the University of International Business and Economics, the impact of targeted support such as subsidies is now becoming obvious and these measures will continue to push the consumption sector higher.
When all those statements are put together, without a doubt it can be concluded that 11.11.2024 was still a success. Now, as the hoopla surrounding Double 11 dies down, one question emerges – Will Double 11, 2025 be just as grand an affair?
As per Soul App’s report, about 10% of the consumers who participated in this year’s shopping fest were newcomers while 17% were regulars who partook in the revelries every year and over 10% had been a part of the event for almost a decade. In other words, it can be safely concluded that Double 11 has ingrained itself into the youth culture of China.
Chances are that Double 11, 2025 will be just as colossal as it was this year. But, as the popular proverb goes – Only time will tell.
