2024's Double Eleven: The Longest Shopping Spree Ever, Ushering in a New Era of Platform Interconnection

2024's Double Eleven: The Longest Shopping Spree Ever, Ushering in a New Era of Platform InterconnectionThe 2024 Double Eleven shopping festival kicked off with an unprecedented duration and unprecedented interconnectivity between platforms. Officially starting on October 14th and lasting until November 13th, this month-long shopping extravaganza not only broke Double Eleven's historical record but also marked a new phase in the development of the e-commerce ecosystem

2024's Double Eleven: The Longest Shopping Spree Ever, Ushering in a New Era of Platform Interconnection

The 2024 Double Eleven shopping festival kicked off with an unprecedented duration and unprecedented interconnectivity between platforms. Officially starting on October 14th and lasting until November 13th, this month-long shopping extravaganza not only broke Double Eleven's historical record but also marked a new phase in the development of the e-commerce ecosystem. Major e-commerce platforms preemptively deployed various promotional strategies, aiming to stand out in this fiercely competitive market, offering consumers an unparalleled shopping experience while actively seeking mutual growth with merchants.

Early Launch: E-commerce Platforms Vie for Attention

To seize market opportunities, major e-commerce platforms launched their Double Eleven pre-heating activities early. JD.com started its "Pre-purchase" campaign on October 12th, igniting the Double Eleven frenzy. Tmall followed closely, advancing its pre-sale period by ten days compared to last year, foreshadowing the intense competition this year. Livestream e-commerce platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou began their Double Eleven activities even earlier than traditional e-commerce platforms. Douyin launched its pre-sale period on October 8th, fully demonstrating its determination to capture market share.

This early launch strategy provided consumers with a longer selection period and merchants with ample time for preparation and promotion. Each platform's activity schedule had different focuses. For example, JD.com's "Pre-purchase," "Opening Rush," "Special Event Period," "Peak Period," and "Post-sale Period" phases created a continuous flow of shopping benefits. Tmall continued its annual pre-sale model, officially starting pre-sales at 8 pm on October 14th, offering cross-store discounts, official price reductions, and an additional 30 billion yuan in coupons and red packets to maximize consumer attraction. Douyin Mall divided its Double Eleven activities into pre-sale and official periods, concentrating its benefits during the official period. Kuaishou adopted a similar pre-sale and official period strategy, locking in prices early and offering maximum discounts.

The implementation of these strategies reflects the importance attached to this year's Double Eleven by major e-commerce platforms and highlights the increasingly fierce competition within the e-commerce industry.

Unprecedented Discounts: Price Wars No Longer the Only Competitive Weapon

Industry insiders point out that this year's Double Eleven saw the highest discounts ever, and competition between platforms is no longer limited to price wars. While cross-store discounts, single-item discounts, and platform coupons remain major promotional tools, platforms have differentiated their strategies. JD.com offered a cross-store discount of 300 off 50 and provided additional daily subsidies. Tmall, in addition to cross-store discounts and official price reductions, invested 30 billion yuan in coupons and red packets. Douyin Mall focused on official direct discounts of 15% and single-item price cuts, continuing to distribute platform coupons.

Significantly, this year's Double Eleven placed greater emphasis on balancing the interests of merchants and consumers. JD.com offered a 200 off 20 subsidy coupon to all merchants during Double Eleven and introduced a "Livestream Limited-Time Price" strategy. Tmall provided free "Buy Now, Pay Later" service to all Taobao and Tmall merchants, investing 30 billion yuan in coupons, red packets, and billions of yuan in purchasing traffic. Pinduoduo launched a "Hundred Billion Yuan Coupon" campaign and introduced multiple support policies, including reduced technical service fees, lower security deposits, and guaranteed logistics transfer fees. These merchant support measures enhance merchant competitiveness and improve the consumer shopping experience.

JD.com CEO Xu Ran stated that the current market is intensely competitive, with "malicious involution" and "bad money driving out good money" phenomena still prevalent. Over the next three years, JD.com will recruit at least 10,000 procurement and sales personnel to source globally and provide users with more high-quality, affordable goods. This indicates that e-commerce platforms are shifting from pure price competition towards a long-term development model prioritizing product quality, user experience, and supply chain management.

Cross-Platform Interconnection: Breaking Down Barriers and Fostering Competition

Another highlight of this year's Double Eleven was the interconnection between major e-commerce platforms. Previously, barriers existed between different platforms regarding payment systems and logistics, limiting user payment choices and shopping experience. However, these barriers began to crumble before this year's Double Eleven.

Taobao announced the integration of WeChat Pay, gradually opening it up to all sellers. Alibaba and JD.com reached a mutually open cooperation agreement: Taobao and Tmall integrated JD.com logistics, JD.com integrated Cainiao Express and Cainiao Stations, and plans to integrate Alipay payment. These measures signify the gradual elimination of barriers between e-commerce platforms, offering consumers and merchants more choices and convenience.

Experts believe that the elimination of platform barriers will lead to a new round of adjustments in the e-commerce market competition landscape, with competition focusing more on core elements such as product quality, price advantages, and service experience. This is good news for consumers, as they can find better value-for-money products and services from a wider selection.

Cui Lili, Executive Director of the E-commerce Research Institute at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, stated that after Taobao integrated JD.com logistics, it can better integrate with JD.com's channel ports for streamlined operations, and the Cainiao Station system will also incorporate JD.com's logistics delivery information, enhancing consumer experience.

A Win-Win for Consumers and Merchants: Building a Double Eleven Feast Together

During this year's Double Eleven, major e-commerce platforms not only started sales early but also rolled out various promotional measures to attract consumers. Cross-store discounts, single-item discounts, and platform coupons were the main promotional tools. However, different platforms offered varying promotional strategies: JD.com focused on discounts and livestream limited-time prices, Tmall emphasized cross-store discounts, official price reductions, and coupon red packets, and Douyin Mall focused on official direct discounts and single-item price cuts.

It is noteworthy that this year's Double Eleven paid more attention to balancing the interests of merchants and consumers. JD.com aimed to increase the number of small and micro-businesses with daily sales exceeding 10,000 by more than 200% year-on-year and the number of businesses with sales exceeding 5 million by more than 50% year-on-year. Tmall invested 30 billion yuan in coupons and red packets, billions of yuan in purchasing traffic, and collaborated with over 200 internet platforms to expand merchant customer flow. These measures highlight the e-commerce platforms' emphasis on merchant development and promote the mutual growth of merchants and platforms.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangoal Institution, stated that this year's Double Eleven, by breaking down barriers and fostering competition, allowed consumers to find better value-for-money products and services from a wider selection, while e-commerce platforms helped merchants reduce costs and increase efficiency through various measures, achieving a win-win situation for consumers and merchants.

In conclusion, the 2024 Double Eleven shopping festival, with its unprecedented duration, unparalleled discounts, and platform interconnection, offered consumers and merchants a shopping extravaganza filled with opportunities and challenges. In this "longest ever" Double Eleven, we can expect a more exciting and affordable shopping experience and a healthier, more sustainable e-commerce ecosystem.

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