---
title: "Insights into Consumption Trends from the 'Online New Year Shopping Festival'"
description: "The annual 'New Year Shopping Festival' has begun, a key battleground for merchants. This year, e-commerce platforms have launched their promotions earlier than usual, reflecting changes in the macro consumption environment. Platforms like Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Douyin have adjusted their product selections and employed price wars, subsidies, and interactive activities to capture market share."
author: "潇杰"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2025-01-27"
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# Insights into Consumption Trends from the 'Online New Year Shopping Festival'

> The annual 'New Year Shopping Festival' has begun, a key battleground for merchants. This year, e-commerce platforms have launched their promotions earlier than usual, reflecting changes in the macro consumption environment. Platforms like Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Douyin have adjusted their product selections and employed price wars, subsidies, and interactive activities to capture market share.

The annual 'New Year Shopping Festival' has begun. This has always been a fiercely contested arena for merchants, and this year's festival has exuded a rich 'New Year flavor' early on. E-commerce platforms have rushed to launch their New Year promotions ahead of schedule, just as they did with Double 11 and 618, largely due to changes in the macro consumption environment. This year, major platforms are making extra efforts. Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and others have all announced their New Year Shopping Festival activities, adjusting their product selections based on consumption trends and employing price wars, subsidies, and interactive games to seize the initiative in the New Year market. Brands have also launched 'gift packages' and other products for consumers to choose from.

However, after the conclusion of Double 11 and Double 12, will consumer demand shift? How can merchants seize the business opportunities of the New Year Shopping Festival? How can they grasp consumers' New Year shopping needs and stimulate purchasing enthusiasm? Some clues can be gleaned from the e-commerce platforms' New Year promotions.

**Fancy 'Price Wars' Remain Mainstream**

As living standards steadily improve, consumer demand for New Year goods has become increasingly complex. A few years ago, popular New Year products were mostly traditional foods, new clothing, and similar categories. Today, consumers have more diverse needs, and some niche categories are gradually emerging.

According to relevant data, from January to November 2024, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 44,272.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. This indicates that the domestic consumer market has entered an era of low growth.

However, many consumers feel that the 'New Year flavor' is fading. According to iiMedia Research's '2024 Chinese Consumer Spring Festival New Year Shopping Behavior' report, setting off firecrackers and buying New Year goods are among the activities that most evoke the New Year spirit. Many consumers also note that online New Year activities are increasing. So, how to recapture the New Year feeling and further stimulate consumption vitality is closely related to e-commerce platforms and merchants. First, price wars remain a routine operation for major players. Traditional e-commerce platform Taobao offers red envelopes with no threshold through various methods, such as daily check-ins and interactive games, with the highest amount reaching 8,888 yuan. Some products directly enjoy official discounts, with specific discount levels varying by category. JD.com, which has long competed with Taobao, is one of the first e-commerce platforms to launch its New Year Shopping Festival this year. As early as December 24, 2024, JD.com launched its New Year Shopping Festival, offering a 'daily 60 yuan extra subsidy' activity, and purchases of home appliances, furniture, and 3C digital products can also enjoy national subsidies. In addition, JD.com has introduced promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free and buy full-size get full-size. Pinduoduo, known for its low prices, continues its '100 billion subsidy' program. During the New Year Shopping Festival, Pinduoduo stated it will continue to subsidize merchants of new-quality agricultural products and new-quality New Year goods, enriching the 'new-quality supply' for the Spring Festival, and through 'direct from origin' and 'direct from factory' methods, connect agricultural production areas and industrial belts directly to the national New Year market, helping merchants, workers, and farmers in these areas increase production and income. Vipshop, a discount e-commerce platform, still focuses on 'one-item instant discount'. It is understood that Vipshop's New Year Shopping Festival will launch limited-time bestseller events at 8 PM on January 6 and 8 PM on January 16, with prices for new clothes, New Year gift boxes, nuts and snacks, gold and jewelry, and beauty and skincare products at least 15% off the lowest price in 30 days. In the first four hours of the festival, there will also be limited-time offers, with many products enjoying additional discounts on top of promotional prices. Live-streaming e-commerce is also fully embracing the New Year Shopping Festival this year. As the last major promotion before the Spring Festival, it has become a key focus for platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou. Douyin's New Year Shopping Festival runs from January 2 to January 22, 2025, featuring official discounts, one-item instant reductions, 'big brand mega deals', and new content such as hometown New Year specialties in live streams. Kuaishou's New Year Shopping Festival official period is from December 21 to January 5, 2025, with a benefit return period from January 6 to 12. A Kuaishou e-commerce official stated that the 2025 Kuaishou New Year Shopping Festival will introduce more festive marketing plays, introduce and create more authentic best-selling New Year goods, and enhance the user shopping experience. Unlike previous years, this year's New Year Shopping Festival subsidies are not only from platforms but also from the continued strengthening of the national 'two new' policies. Starting January 1 this year, various regions have begun implementing a new round of consumer goods trade-in and large-scale equipment renewal policies. Beyond price wars and subsidies, the quality of platform and merchant services is also crucial for consumers. With Taobao and JD.com having opened up logistics cooperation this year, merchants and consumers have more diverse logistics options and delivery services. In terms of delivery timeliness, both users and merchants can be better satisfied. Additionally, customer service and after-sales satisfaction directly influence consumer purchasing decisions. After all, in an era of stock, the platform that offers consumers more benefits and a more comprehensive product range will gain more consumer support. Therefore, for platforms, it is crucial to洞察 consumer trends and formulate differentiated strategies based on the needs of different groups.

**New Trends in New Year Goods: Value for Money and Emotional Value Must Go Hand in Hand**

This year, it is evident that consumers are more sensitive to product services, prefer high-value-for-money products, and show a more pronounced pursuit of rational consumption. According to a survey by YouSi Report under China Newsweek, nearly 90% of people plan to buy New Year goods this year, with post-90s and post-95s accounting for half of the shoppers. Young people prioritize quality, price, and practicality in New Year consumption. This data is corroborated by Taobao and Tmall data. Currently, post-95s are the absolute main force in New Year goods consumption on Taobao and Tmall, with post-00s (ages 18-24) showing the fastest growth in spending power. This shift in consumer groups is driving profound changes in the entire New Year goods market. The younger generation places more emphasis on personalized experiences, has higher acceptance of digital services, and makes more rational consumption decisions. Focusing on the above two sets of data, it is not difficult to see that young people, as the main force in the consumer market, prefer products that combine high quality and high cost-effectiveness. According to iiMedia Research's '2024 Chinese Consumer Spring Festival New Year Shopping Behavior' survey, the top three New Year goods that Chinese consumers have purchased or plan to purchase are fresh fruits, leisure snacks, and clothing, shoes, and bags. In the top ten, food categories account for more than half. In other words, New Year products centered around food, drink, and dressing are more likely to be favored by consumers. Satisfying culinary desires is a reward for consumers after a hard year's work. Whale Business found that leading leisure snack brands such as Three Squirrels, Bestore, and Qiaqia Food are seizing the market opportunity by expanding production, launching Year of the Snake new products, and multi-channel layouts. As the weather turns colder, nourishing foods such as bird's nest, donkey-hide gelatin, and white radish, morel mushrooms, walnut kernels, blueberries, and red pine mushrooms are deeply loved by consumers. However, the popularity of traditional products does not fully reflect the 'New Year flavor'. It is the younger consumers' pursuit of 'emotional value' that makes the New Year flavor stronger. Various Spring Festival couplets and festive hanging ornaments convey the beautiful expectations of the new year. Currently, a fragrance gift box named 'The Smell of Money' from Hema has become popular on social media, and another fragrance pendant called 'New Year Lucky Draw' is also very popular. Interestingly, with the change in the main consumer group and young people's emphasis on ritual, when they come to the market to buy New Year goods, they are more willing to purchase high-quality, trendy foods. For example, some personalized snack gift packs and fruit gift boxes, as well as high-end seafood, co-branded gift boxes, and trendy snacks, are mostly targeted at young people. Additionally, specialty categories such as jewelry, cultural and creative toys are gradually becoming new favorites among young people, with huge explosive potential. These products not only satisfy the sense of ritual but also bring interactive gameplay, enhancing festive entertainment. The overseas market is also very hot. For overseas consumers, they also buy New Year goods around Christmas. According to a report by The Beijing News, consumers in Asian countries like Japan and South Korea prefer colored light strings, while overseas consumers in Europe and the US prefer white light strings. Merchants not only need to stock up on light strings and accessories but also prepare various decorative light strips for warehouse shipment in advance. Data from multiple e-commerce platforms show that seasonal products such as hand warmers, heated insoles, and tire anti-skid chains have seen sales booms both domestically and internationally. As consumers pay more attention to appearance and functionality, many products in niche areas are expected to emerge as new tracks, such as self-heating insoles and self-heating underwear. Among them, heated mouse pads have seen increased demand in winter, with merchants stocking up in advance. In short, whether domestic or international, platforms must洞察 consumer preference changes and niche track trends to implement subsidy strategies more effectively. For merchants, the New Year Shopping Festival is the last sprint of the year, and how to avoid being a 'spectator' is a major challenge.

**Platforms Create Momentum, Multi-Channel Order Grabbing at Year-End**

During major promotions, many merchants often joke about 'losing money but gaining publicity', complaining about the high advertising costs on e-commerce platforms. Major companies have to make changes to avoid disappointing merchants. This year, merchants registering for the Tmall New Year Shopping Festival must not only meet basic promotion access requirements but also support the 'Consumer Experience Improvement Plan' (i.e., support Return Treasure). Using Return Treasure instead of return shipping insurance can reduce losses caused by users who exploit the system and improve the consumer shopping experience. JD.com recently announced another upgrade to customer service staff compensation and benefits. The monthly fixed salary of over 20,000 JD.com customer service staff will be significantly increased, achieving an average salary increase of 2 months for all staff. Pinduoduo, after waiving logistics transfer fees, has reduced the logistics cost per order for merchants. For merchants on short-video platforms, Douyin and Kuaishou assist merchants in content seeding, optimizing key search terms, and using search and shelves to convert consumers and improve conversion rates. Meituan has joined forces with retail brands such as Walmart, Yonghui Superstores, Meiyijia, Sephora, and Miniso, as well as many small and medium-sized supermarkets and convenience stores. Traditional e-commerce, social e-commerce, and local life service platforms are each making efforts to build a comprehensive consumption scenario. In reality, in the context of consumption downgrading, the iteration of promotion models reflects changes in consumer culture. From Double 11 to the New Year Shopping Festival, from traditional e-commerce to instant retail, the official plays and traffic incentives of various major companies are reshaping the development direction of China's retail industry. Meanwhile, changes in consumer demand and habits are continuously driving the entire industry toward a more mature direction.

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