As the smoke of the Double 11 shopping frenzy gradually dissipates, e-commerce giants are once again tirelessly preparing for Double 12.
This year's Double 12 Pinduoduo started early with a cycle of 20 days, while Taobao and JD.com officially launched this year-end shopping feast on the evening of December 9th.
It is worth noting that last year Taobao announced the cancellation of the Double 12 event and replaced it with the "Taobao Year End Good Price Festival". This news once sparked heated discussions and topped the Weibo hot search list. This year, major e-commerce platforms coincidentally once again competed in Double 12, with some setting warm-up periods, formal periods, and other cycles in an attempt to attract consumers' attention.
A consumer told a reporter from Beike Finance in the New Beijing News that during major promotions, they would click on the follow e-commerce platform promotion information to see what products they needed, and they could buy them at promotional prices. There was indeed a purchasing demand at the end of the year. But some consumers also expressed that the e-commerce promotion period is too close, and they do not think that there is any unique value between Double 12 and Double 11, and do not have the enthusiasm to explore. The reporter observed that this year's Double 12, various platforms have launched various promotional activities and subsidies, but low prices are not the only focus. This year's Double 12 platforms pay more attention to user experience and interactive gameplay.
E-commerce re emphasizes Double 12, focusing on price competition and fun gameplay
Double 12 was originally launched as a powerful supplement to Double 11, shouldering the responsibility of opening up exclusive tracks for many small and medium-sized merchants in e-commerce. At that time, the protagonists of Double 11 were mostly big brands and top merchants, with highly concentrated resources and traffic; Double 12 attempts to do the opposite, giving small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to shine and improve the platform's business ecosystem, and strengthening the interaction and communication between buyers and sellers.
However, for a long time, the industry has generally believed that Double 12 and Double 11 have fallen into an awkward homogenization dilemma. In the eyes of consumers, the two are increasingly similar in terms of discount rules, discount intensity, and promotion scope of product categories, almost becoming products of "copy and paste". Consumers are gradually losing their enthusiasm for exploration and participation. Subsequently, the priority of Double 12 was repeatedly lowered and even cancelled. Xiaochao from Xicheng, Beijing, told reporters that there are more and more e-commerce promotions every year, but his enthusiasm for participation is decreasing.
This year, e-commerce platforms coincidentally resumed their emphasis on Double 12. A reporter from Beike Finance of the New Beijing News found that as an important node of the year-end promotion, price wars are naturally an indispensable part of Double 12. Major e-commerce platforms have launched significant promotional activities to attract consumers' attention.
The homepage of Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo platforms all have a Double 12 entrance. The main promotional methods are still classic discounts and red envelopes. At the same time, e-commerce has also set up fun gameplay to attract customers and increase user retention and conversion rates.
This year's Taobao Double 12 has launched a new "treasure picking" gameplay. Consumers can search for "Double 12 Treasure Picking" or "Taobao Treasure Picking" on the Taobao App to enter the Double 12 venue, and by sliding down the page, they can find product cards with "Congratulations on Picking up Treasure" pictures to get discounted products. In addition, there are also promotions such as a 40% discount for orders over 300, category and merchant coupons, as well as surprise red envelopes and cashback for orders.
The main activity gameplay of JD Double 12 is also cross store discounts, with a discount of 40 yuan for every 300 yuan spent. All category merchants can participate. The platform encourages merchants to register in the form of store wide products, and will provide traffic support for cross store full discount products in public domain scenarios such as recommendation, search, order page, and venue. At the same time, JD's Double 12 product labeling activity continues the "free registration for labeling" method of Double 11, and products that meet the investment rules in the entire store will be automatically selected and labeled by the system.
The gameplay of Pinduoduo Double 12 includes search recommendation weighting, billions of traffic support, big promotion tagging, official subsidies, etc. It has launched a 666 yuan promotion limited red envelope and cross store discounts, with a 30 yuan discount for every 200 yuan spent. There are also three challenges and a 50% discount for sprinting, with a focus on inviting brand merchants to participate.
Overall, the Double 12 shopping festival has strengthened the positioning of year-end clearance promotions. This adjustment not only creates a significant difference between Double 12 and Double 11, but also conforms to consumers' pursuit of "cost-effectiveness" and enhances price competitiveness.
At the end of the year, the market has huge consumption potential, and the platform is making every effort to attract users to return
Previously, Double 12 was once trapped in a dilemma of unclear positioning and convergence, which greatly reduced its unique value. Consumers gradually lost their enthusiasm for exploration and participation, and the growth rate of Double 12's commercial data over the years was also very limited.
At that time, the e-commerce industry was in a highly competitive environment, and shopping festivals were booming in the market. Consumers were bombarded with various promotional information, and shopping fatigue was increasing day by day. At that time, the platform increasingly focused on quality upgrades and brand building, attempting to reduce its dependence on large-scale low-priced promotions.
Now, after a period of silence, Double 12 has returned to the public eye and once again embarked on a carnival mode, primarily due to the strong market demand and huge consumption potential at the end of the year. At the end and beginning of the year, consumers have a rigid demand for purchasing New Year's goods, changing season clothing, and visiting relatives and friends as gifts. Double 12 is just the right time, providing the public with an excellent opportunity for centralized procurement and cost saving, perfectly unleashing this suppressed consumer force and helping to facilitate the rapid circulation of goods.
From the perspective of merchants, they are full of expectations for the return of Double 12. At the end of the year, the withdrawal of funds, the clearance of backlogged inventory, and the promotion of brand awareness all rely on the assistance of large-scale promotional activities.
December is usually a good season for the transition from old to new, and every household is looking for something new. After we finish Double 11, we are ready to welcome Double 12, "a home furnishing brand merchant told a reporter from Beijing News Shell Finance. He said that this year's strategy is still to promote popular products. The store signed up early for platform activities under the recommendation of platform operations, hoping to have a good resource slot and spend advertising money to attract more customers and bring sales conversion.
Although various platforms have launched various promotional activities and subsidies, low prices are no longer the only important direction for Double 12. This year's Double 12 platform pays more attention to user experience and interactive gameplay. Jin Que, the head of Taobao's marketing department, said that brand merchants are the absolute main theme of Double 11, and he hopes that everyone can maintain their own requirements for brand and quality in their lives. She believes that the Double 12 platform focuses on characteristic small and medium-sized sellers, hoping that their voices, operations, and entrepreneurial spirit on the platform will be seen. At the same time, the platform has designed interesting and interactive gameplay, hoping to attract users back to the platform, and "being able to play is the top priority".
According to a research report released by CITIC Securities, after the past three major promotions, the e-commerce industry has shown a clear trend of cross platform growth rate variance convergence. During the big promotion period, the home appliances and home furnishings categories stimulated by national subsidies showed impressive performance, while beauty and clothing also rebounded, and overall consumer demand showed a positive trend.
This year's Double 12, the industry will also face new opportunities and challenges. With consumers' increasing demands for quality and service, e-commerce platforms need to continuously improve product quality and service levels to meet their needs. At the same time, with the rise of emerging formats such as live streaming sales, e-commerce platforms need to constantly innovate marketing strategies to attract more consumer attention.
This year's Double 12 is not just a simple replica promotion, but also a key node in reshaping the e-commerce industry ecosystem, stimulating year-end consumption, driving domestic demand, "injecting blood" into the real economy, and accelerating the industry's "metabolism".