more discounts and user-centric features as rivals learn from Pinduoduo · TechNode

Major Chinese online retailers including Taobao and JD, as well as emerging platforms such as Xiaohongshu, said they recorded positive metrics during China’s month-long 618 shopping festival, where low prices played a major role amid the challenge of restrained spending consumer.

In an email sent by Alibaba to TechNode, the Taobao owner said it had noticed “encouraging user engagement and growth” from sellers of all sizes.

Why is it important: The 618 shopping festival is the second-largest online shopping event in China, and consumption levels during the event are seen as a barometer of overall spending trends in the country.

Details: Pinduoduo’s exceptional performance has made it a model for competitors, although the discount shopping app has become more aggressive recently as it tries to maintain its appeal. Before major promotions began in late May, Pinduoduo quietly launched a system designed to automatically adjust prices within a range set by sellers so that the price of a product would drop if a competing platform offered a lower price.

• At the same time, Taobao revamped its homepage to closely resemble that of Pinduoduo, its biggest rival. The changes include reducing the number of permanent channels and highlighting products recommended by the algorithm that it thinks users are likely to buy.
• Another key figure revealed by Alibaba shows that the number of newly added members of 88VIP, Taobao’s loyalty suite, more than doubled in May compared to the previous month. The growth was driven by additional value-added services, such as access to unlimited free parcel returns. Taobao said the program registered more than 35 million users in the first three months of 2024.
• JD, the platform that launched the 618 shopping festival to celebrate its founding, this year partnered with Hunan TV for an evening gala three years after the last event. As part of the project, JD said it would give away “the biggest prizes,” including resort stays and sports tickets, to users who made in-app purchases during the gala, which started at 8 p.m. on Monday.
• Elsewhere, content-sharing platform Xiaohongshu reported purchase orders made through its site tripled compared to the same period last year.

Context: Major e-commerce players launched their 618 promotions in mid-May, but none of them posted total sales during that period.

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