China’s mega online shopping festivals losing lustre as people tighten belts

Beijing resident Liu Zuyi used to scrimp and save months ahead of the Double Il sales - China's largest online shopping festival - before splurging on discounted household items or gadgets.

- Aw Cheng Wei

As an undergraduate in the early 2010s, he recalled getting a 40 per cent discount on a laptop he had been eyeing all year. "The sales were always such a highlight of my year," the accountant told The Sunday Times.

But Mr Liu, now 33, did not buy a single item during the recent 618 online shopping festival. "I was not very motivated to buy anything because prices are not that much different any more, sales period or not," he said.

The relevance of mega online shopping festivals such as 618 and Double 11 has come in for discussion in the Chinese media, given their lack of buzz among shoppers and how organisers have stopped releasing sales figures in the last few years.

Tech giants Alibaba and JD.​com, which own the country's two largest e-commerce platforms, have remained mum on the total value of goods sold during the shopping festival for the third year in a row, when they had previously released such data.

The Chinese media reported that more than 50 publishing houses in Shanghai and Beijing boycotted the 618 sales in 2024, after Alibaba and JD.​com pressured retailers to offer discounts of up to 80 per cent to draw consumers.