BEIJING — The 2021 Double Eleven shopping festival reached a peak at around midnight on Nov 10, with consumers all across China fixing their eyes on their phone screens to seize every possible discount on e-commerce platforms.
Initiated in 2009, the shopping festival serves as a barometer of China's consumer confidence. In addition to the usual sales boom the event brings, this year's Double Eleven has revealed new trends in line with the country's consumption model upgrades.
SELLING SMARTER
"With big data, we can now more precisely predict which textures, colors or styles are going to become new fashions," said Xiang Ruyi, founder of the Chinese clothing brand FANO.
To cater to the more diverse demand of China's younger generation, a major driving force of Double Eleven consumption, clothing manufacturers are looking to digital technologies to better analyze the fashion market and consumer groups.
For these companies, the shopping festival begins much earlier than Nov 11 every year. It is a complete industrial chain that covers research, production, sales, and after-sales services, and technologies such as big data help connect those links.
"We can figure out where and to whom we should sell our products, even before they are actually manufactured," Xiang said.
On the consumer side, online shopping is also getting more intelligent as livestreaming e-commerce thrives and reshapes consumer behaviors.
Compared with traditional online retailing, livestreaming e-commerce enables sellers to showcase their goods more authentically and thoroughly. Consumers can also enjoy special offers from livestreamers.
According to data from e-commerce platform Taobao, its top two livestreamers sold approximately 20 billion yuan (about $3.1 billion) of goods via their channels on the first presale day of this year's Double Eleven.
Considering China's huge livestreaming market, analysts envision that livestreaming e-commerce will continue to expand its presence in online shopping, and involve more sectors and types of goods.
The country had 617 million users of livestreaming services by May, and it is estimated that the livestreaming e-commerce market will near 2 trillion yuan in 2021, according to a report from a Ministry of Commerce research institute.
The ministry announced in July that it would help accelerate the digital and intelligent transformations of traditional businesses, and push forward the deeper integration of online and offline consumption.
GREEN SHIFT
Since this year's Double Eleven began, multiple online retail platforms have recorded surges in their sales of eco-friendly products amid China's shift to green consumption.
During the 2021 festival, online retailer Suning sold 69 percent more energy-efficient air conditioners compared to the same period last year. The number of consumers participating in a trade-in project increased by 74 percent.
In turn, green consumption is reshaping the way retailers are selling their goods. During the festival, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com began using a new type of parcel nationwide that is tape-free and can be reused dozens of times.
The shift to green consumption reflects the Chinese people's demand for a better environment now that they have higher incomes, said Long Guoqiang, deputy head of the Development Research Center of the State Council.
This shift will have a profound influence on global economic and social development, Long said.
China has rolled out measures to boost green, low-carbon consumption as part of efforts to achieve its carbon-neutrality goal.
Four state organs, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, have recently released a guideline to establish an incentive mechanism for e-commerce platforms to sell green goods.
The guideline also specifies measures to ramp up the consumption of new energy vehicles, photovoltaic devices, and eco-friendly electronics.
