Caixin News | October 14th Consumer Daily Report (Researcher Liang Youyun), the longest November 11th in history is here.

This year, Taobao and JD.com have changed their staggered sales from last year and opted for a 'head-on confrontation.' On October 14th, Taobao and JD.com simultaneously launched the promotion campaign for this year's November 11th promotion, igniting the shopping enthusiasm of many consumers.

Data obtained from the Tmall platform shows that in the first 30 minutes after the start of sales, 20 beauty brands on Tmall exceeded one billion in sales, with 8 individual products also exceeding one billion. In addition to government subsidies, the discounts on Tmall Double 11 led to a 765% surge in sales of major appliances in the first hour.

Similarly, vipshop also chose to start the November 11 promotion on October 14th. At 10 a.m. on the 14th, vipshop started its sales in a 'staggered' manner and continued its no-need-for-full-discount, single-item discount model that does not require a minimum purchase.

However, as early as October 8th, PDD Holdings announced the start of the November 11th campaign; Douyin also announced its entry into advance promotions (pre-sale) on the same day; while Kuaishou E-commerce started the pre-sale rush on October 10th.

Under the active competition of major e-commerce platforms, this year's November 11 promotion has been extended from 3 weeks in advance to about a month in advance. According to the promotion timeline of multiple e-commerce platforms, this year's November 11 event will run from mid-October until around November 13th.

The variety of ways to play has decreased, with multiple platforms emphasizing saving money and subsidies.

This year's november 11 shopping festival-related not only started earlier, but also made efforts to reduce the complexity of promotional strategies and discounts, significantly reducing fancy calculations and strategic marketing.

Jd.com's november 11 shopping festival-related promotion indicates that this year's discount offers include: billion subsidies, across-the-board price reductions, daily subsidies, cross-store "spend 300-50". In addition to rejecting presales and offering spot sales, jd.com will shift its focus on promoting high-quality after-sales service, trade-in programs, and platform merchandise that offer good value for money.

In its promotion, Taobao Tmall emphasizes cancelling the "deceptively low price" displayed in product images to reduce the burden on consumers in calculating discounts. The actual price consumers pay when purchasing items will be automatically calculated and updated in real-time by the platform system to ensure price accuracy.

However, the New Consumer Daily found in a comparison before and after the november 11 big promotion that many merchants still label their promotional images with text like "final price XX yuan" or "lowest price up to XX yuan" with certain gimmicks.

Despite retaining the presale mechanism, Taobao introduced direct price discounts such as "billion super subsidies", "group buy for ten thousand people", and category subsidies in addition to regular spend-threshold discounts like "spend 300-50", "spend 200-30".

Ruci, general manager of Taobao's billion subsidies at Taotian Group, stated during the big promotion conference that during november 11, Taobao's billion subsidies will support the comparison of prices across the entire network, guaranteeing refunds for overpriced purchases. It is reported that active users of Taobao's billion subsidies have exceeded 0.5 billion, with an annual customer growth rate exceeding 200%.

This year, in addition to PDD Holdings and jd.com, the third platform to follow the network-wide price comparison mechanism during the big promotion is Taobao Tmall. Unlike the "refunded double if overcharged" promotion by PDD Holdings and jd.com, Taobao Tmall, which is under industry scrutiny for price comparisons, has not escalated its price compensation measures.

Before the big promotion, Wu Jia, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taotian User Platform Division, told reporters that they are anticipating the largest number of users ever on this edition of Tmall's november 11. "We do not aim to win consumers with absolute low prices, as we still want quality to be our bottom line."

JD Group CEO Xu Ran, who shares similar views, expressed at JD's November 11 conference that in the current intense market competition, the industry still experiences phenomena of "vicious internal competition" and driving out good money with bad. However, JD's platform will actively search for the source of origin worldwide to bring back more cost-effective and good products for users.

Behind the collective decision of multiple platforms to start selling early and "reduce the burden" for consumers, is the early removal of e-commerce consumption and payment barriers represented by Taobao and Tmall this year. Meanwhile, the country as well as many local provinces and cities continue to release consumer promotion policies. A certain consumption boom has already been sparked during the National Day period, with domestic consumption demand continuing to grow.

At present, some categories have shown outstanding performance after the start of November 11 shopping festival-related sales.

Data obtained from Tmall shows that starting from 8 p.m. on October 14 after the November 11 shopping festival began, the home appliance category saw a significant increase. Due to the combination of government subsidies for the first time with Tmall's November 11 discounts, the first hour saw a 765% year-on-year increase in Tmall's large appliance transactions compared to the previous year's presale opening day. Brands like Haier, Midea, and Little Swan quickly surpassed a billion, with products like Haier super slim refrigerators, Hisense televisions, Midea energy-saving air conditioners, Panasonic White Moonlight laundry combo set, and other individual items quickly surpassing tens of millions in transactions.

Within the first 10 minutes of the start of sales, Tmall's Proya, Olay, Xiu Li Ke, Lancome, KFM, Guerlain, Estee Lauder, Helena Rubinstein, Oil of Olay, Blue Mystery, Clarins, Skin Key, Audemars Piguet 13 brands successively surpassed a billion, with 20 brands reaching this mark within the first 30 minutes. On the product side, KFM collagen sticks became the first item to surpass a billion, selling over 0.2 million pieces in 10 minutes; within 30 minutes, Clarins' restoring honey, Olay Bois Visage face masks, and other 8 items successively surpassed a billion.

In the first hour after the start of the major promotion, 42 brands including Xiaomi, Vivo, DJI, Fujifilm, etc., doubled their transactions compared to the previous year's presale opening day, with DJI's first hour seeing a growth of over 560%. New brands participating in Tmall's November 11 presale for the first time experienced explosive growth, with IKF Bluetooth earphones growing over 710% year-on-year and ireader over 176%.

In terms of sports and outdoor brands, within the first hour of presale, 6 brands surpassed a billion in transactions, with 32 popular single products surpassing tens of millions in transactions. 44 brands like KOLON SPORT, TREK, awka, Pathfinder exceeded the previous year's presale opening day, and the star product adidas' 600 puff down jacket immediately surpassed a billion. There was a major boom in cycling brands, with overall category growth exceeding 40%, complete bicycle growth exceeding 80%, road bicycle brand TREK's presale hour seeing a growth of over 1300%, cycling apparel/equipment category achieving double-digit high-speed growth, and professional cycling apparel brand LUPDADA becoming the fastest growing in that category.

Facing a crisis of trust, platforms still remain committed to top live streaming e-commerce hosts.

In the morning of October 14th, the top anchor Simba, who was unblocked by the platform, returned in a high-profile manner and released multiple videos to warm up for the November 11 shopping festival-related. In the videos, Simba said, 'When it comes to live e-commerce, is there a darker moment than now? Top anchors are in danger, user trust is collapsing, and the media is criticizing that.'

What Simba mentioned is that in the past month, multiple top anchors promoting products in live broadcasts have had their reputations damaged, causing ordinary consumers to have many concerns before choosing to shop in live e-commerce. Many consumers have started expressing their dissatisfaction towards the entire group of anchors and live platforms. Simba said that the trust crisis affects the entire industry, 'How much money do I need to regain the trust of the entire online users in live e-commerce?'

Yuan Yuan, the general manager of Taobao Live Store, said in a media interview that both users and merchants no longer excessively pursue internet celebrity anchors for product promotions.

As brands no longer seek short-term explosive sales, along with regulatory authorities continuously clarifying and updating the penalty rules and regulatory basis for the top anchors' reputation damage, the live e-commerce industry is also transitioning towards standardization. Yuan Yuan, the general manager of Taobao Live Store, stated that during this year's November 11 shopping festival-related, Taobao Live will further enhance the shaping of quality anchor concepts, creating a trustworthy shopping environment for users.

As an anchor, Simba actively apologized to internet platforms and live e-commerce consumers in promotional videos, calling on live streamers to adhere to ethical standards and urging consumers to regain trust in live e-commerce. 'I firmly believe that none of us don't make mistakes. Just like Simba has never been perfect, perfection also grows from every mistake we make, and it grows with everyone's understanding.'

In fact, whether it's Simba's promotional call or the platform's actual choices, this year's November 11 sales promotion still heavily relies on live streaming sales and the influence of top anchors.

After an impassioned speech, Simba announced that the November 11 sales promotion live stream he hosts will start selling in the morning of the 19th. At the same time, Taobao Live is fully supporting its top anchors and even 'crossing boundaries' to have many self-media influencers assist the platform in product promotion.

According to the promotion, during this year's November 11 shopping festival-related, Taobao Live will distribute 1 billion yuan in red envelope subsidies just like last year. Among them, Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room will distribute 0.5 billion yuan, Viya's anchor group 'Bee Surprise Society' live broadcast room will distribute 0.2 billion yuan, 'The Mushroom is Here' live broadcast room will distribute 20 million yuan...

Based on incomplete statistics, Li Jiaqi's live streaming room, after going live, instantly sold out many brands such as Kopari, Guerlain, L'Oreal, and more within seconds to a minute. This indicates that the influence of top anchors remains strong.

It is worth noting that during this year's November 11 shopping festival-related event, Taobao cooperated with the video content website Bilibili to customize a live streaming sales incentive plan for eligible potential content creators inside and outside the platform. At the same time, Bilibili will also collaborate with Tmall to have tens of thousands of bloggers appear in live streaming rooms for sales, fully leveraging the bloggers' personal influence value.

Facing the booming e-commerce industry, there are still many consumers who maintain a calm and rational attitude.

"I will buy according to my needs and will not rush to consume just because of major promotions." Consumer Xiaocheng told the New Consumption Daily that in the previous years, stimulated by live streamers and impulsive buying, she hoarded a lot of commodities. However, after stockpiling a large amount of goods, she found that the products at home were at risk of expiration, resulting in losses greater than the money saved from discounts.

Such a 'lesson' has led her to reflect on her shopping habits and actively become a rational consumer, realizing that 'earning money is not easy, and every penny should be spent wisely.'

Still planning for the November 11 shopping festival, Mai Yun told the New Consumer Daily that this year she will not rush to make purchases during the first moment, but will slowly select daily consumables. If the discounted price is right, then she will consider upgrading to the latest model of the phone. 'I don't need to buy any big items, the phone is good enough for gaming, and I can endure a bit longer.'

(Xiaocheng and Mai Yun are pseudonyms)