Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba, JD and Pinduoduo have seen a boom in sales during the 618 shopping festival, the first major shopping festival this year. From publicly-available sales figures, China’s two biggest e-commerce giants, Alibaba and JD, handled $136.51 billion of sales through their platforms over 618. For those that are unfamiliar with 618, it is China’s second-largest e-commerce festival after Double 11.
Here are a few quick takes from our e-commerce team, who provide brands with the support they need to sell online in China across multiple platforms, including Alibaba, JD, Kaola. You can read our previous write-ups of e-commerce sales events here.
Preparation Is Key With Festivals Starting Earlier, and Running Longer
618 runs for 18 days from 1 June to 18 June. However, platforms whet consumer appetites well before 1 June. JD’s warm-up deals started on May 21 and Alibaba’s warm-up deals started just a few days later. We advise brands that they need at least a 90-day planning window to get themselves into shape for the biggest e-commerce festivals of the year, 618 and Double 11. Use our e-commerce calendar to find additional opportunities for you to increase your brand’s share of voice and category sales.
Integrated Campaigns More Important Than Ever
In response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, some companies have cut their marketing spend. However, 618 showed us that spend in one channel alone isn’t enough. The best marketing efforts integrate assets from inside and outside Alibaba and JD – buying full-screen ads on apps and services that resonate with your target audience (such as NetEase Music), having banner ads within the e-commerce marketplaces, shareable offers sent through WeChat Official Accounts, as well as widespread seeding activities that put real products in vocal consumers hands. If this sounds like something you need help with, get in touch with our marketing specialists.
Short Video’s Integration With E-commerce Is A Game-Changer
We’ve spoken about e-commerce livestream’s potential before. That opportunity is well-established and we’re not going to add anything further here. Instead, what 618 showed us is the recent tie-up between JD and short-video platform Kuaishou is a real winner.
Now, short videos (if you’re reading from overseas, think TikTok) have e-commerce integration. That means if you like the product you see in a short-video, you can buy it without leaving the app.
Kuaishou has 490 million monthly active users and its partnership with JD to means all the in-video products link back to JD. This significantly increases JD’s attractiveness as an e-commerce platform. Through Kuaishou, JD can serve millions of additional customers who might not otherwise have its app. If you’d like to explore opportunities on JD, China’s second-largest e-commerce platform, feel free to get in touch.
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Well, that’s a wrap on our quick takes. Next week, we’ll explore a few more themes in closer detail. To make sure you don’t miss the latest from us, you can sign up to our newsletter here.
