During the National Day holiday, the consumer market was exceptionally hot! The number of domestic trips reached 765 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%; total spending by domestic tourists reached 700.817 billion yuan, up 6.3% year-on-year. Movie tickets also sold like hotcakes: the National Day box office reached 2.104 billion yuan, with 52.09 million admissions. Catering and retail were also booming; according to the Ministry of Commerce's big data, sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased by 4.5% year-on-year. The express delivery industry also saw a surge in business volume, with average daily pickups up 28.4% year-on-year and average daily deliveries up 26.7% year-on-year. Image source: Internet. Of course, the stock market is a mixed bag. Thanks to the September 26 Politburo meeting and related stock and property market support policies, A-shares continued to rise in the days before the National Day holiday, showing a promising trend. During the entire National Day holiday, many netizens joked, "My body is on holiday, but my heart is in the stock market." However, the stock market has noticeably cooled since work resumed, for several reasons: a large number of sell-offs by hedge funds, some listed company shareholders choosing to reduce their holdings, and a large influx of post-90s and post-00s investors using leveraged funds such as consumer loans, prompting regulatory measures: window guidance strictly prohibiting credit funds from illegally flowing into the stock market, major banks beginning to strictly review whether various consumer loans are illegally flowing into the market, and regulators standardizing brokerage account opening practices. Image source: Internet This cooling aims to calm the market, as a crazy bull market is inherently unsustainable, but in the long run, the goals of boosting the stock market and economic recovery remain unchanged. Recently, the State Council Information Office held a press conference, emphasizing the need to "strengthen the counter-cyclical adjustment of fiscal policy and promote high-quality economic development," which again gave the market some confidence. As for how much confidence, we'll have to see the trend in the week of the 13th. Some people lose money, others make money, and those who make money naturally spend. Coincidentally, this year's Double 11 has arrived. As we all know, Double 11 is the climax of the e-commerce war every year. Currently, platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu are all gearing up for a big push. So, what are the new trends for this year's Double 11? How will merchants take advantage of this opportunity? The Longest Double 11 Ever: Nearly a Month, Pre-sale Returns It's easy to see that this year's Double 11 shopping festival has come earlier than in previous years. Specifically, Tmall's Double 11 pre-sale kicked off on October 14, a full 10 days earlier than last year. JD.com was not to be outdone, choosing to start its early access at 8 PM on October 17, a week earlier. Pinduoduo also started a week earlier, entering Double 11 mode from midnight on October 14. Douyin, meanwhile, moved its Double 11 pre-sale festival to October 8, seamlessly connecting with the National Day holiday. The entire event runs from October 8 to November 11, with multiple phases and themed days, such as beauty and sports/outdoor, packed into a tight schedule. Image source: Internet Kuaishou's Double 11 is also impressive, starting its warm-up period on October 16 with early access to good deals. The entire event, from preparation and warm-up on September 19, runs until November 11. During this period, it has launched themed events such as "New Product Big Day," "Top Products Charge," and "Smart Living Festival" in phases, giving consumers something new every day. In addition, Xiaohongshu has also joined the Double 11 fray, running from October 12 to November 11. This is Xiaohongshu's first shopping carnival since it positioned its e-commerce as lifestyle e-commerce, undoubtedly adding more highlights to Double 11. It's worth noting that this year's Double 11 promotion period is generally longer, close to a month, and Douyin's Double 11 promotion even spans more than a month, making it possibly the longest Double 11 promotion in history. One can't help but exclaim: "This Double 11, are they afraid we're holding our wallets too tight?" In terms of gameplay, major e-commerce platforms are also showing their unique skills. Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo still focus on full reduction and instant discounts, simplifying the promotion process; while Douyin Mall's Double 11 promotion centers on official 15% off and one-item direct discounts, while also distributing platform coupons, with brand, mall, and livestream gameplay emerging in endless variety. Kuaishou, on the other hand, has set up at least seven key gameplay modes, including "Surprise Red Packet," "Surprise Red Packet," "Hot Item Additional Subsidy," "Ten Thousand Person Group," "Fan Shopping Group," "Installment Interest-Free," and "Final Payment Instant Discount." To be honest, this raises the bar for consumer understanding and seems a bit complex and hard to grasp, after all, netizens aren't mathematicians. In subsidizing consumers, platforms are also going all out. Taotian, on top of full reduction and instant discount activities, has invested an additional 30 billion yuan in consumer coupons and red packets, the highest amount ever; JD.com has invested 1 billion yuan in resources to support livestream activities. Kuaishou, meanwhile, has rolled out what it claims is the largest subsidy in history, including 20 billion in traffic subsidies, 2 billion in user red packets, and 1 billion in product subsidies; Douyin E-commerce will invest hundreds of millions in cash subsidies and hundreds of billions in traffic resources; Xiaohongshu E-commerce will also invest tens of billions in traffic support and hundreds of millions in subsidies during Double 11. Image source: Pixabay In addition, the pre-sale mechanism has returned this year. Tmall launched its first wave of pre-sales on October 14, with the full cycle showing a three-wave explosion. Consumers are the starting point and destination of all business. Adhering to the core strategy of "user first," major platforms continue to improve, offering consumers the most affordable prices and the best experience. And this year's Double 11, with the extended event period and the restart of the pre-sale system, merchants are ushering in more growth opportunities and business space. The Most Merchant-Friendly Double 11: From "Hundreds of Billions in Subsidies" to "Hundreds of Billions in Reductions" Last year, the e-commerce world was fiercely competing on low prices. JD.com launched a "Hundreds of Billions in Subsidies" channel, while Taobao and Tmall loudly proclaimed "price power." This wave attracted consumers but made merchants miserable. In the past two years, the e-commerce environment has been tough: return rates have climbed like a mountain, shipping insurance costs have risen accordingly, and the "refund only" wool-gatherers have made merchants' lives increasingly difficult. However, this year, the tide in the e-commerce world has turned. Major e-commerce platforms are no longer solely pursuing low prices; they are beginning to care about merchants' situations, pulling out all the stops to lighten their load. Pinduoduo, Taobao, and other platforms have successively launched "Hundreds of Billions in Reductions" plans, moving from "benefiting the people" to "benefiting merchants." Alibaba, to its credit, has directly canceled the Tmall annual fee, replacing it with a 0.6% basic software service fee, and has optimized its "refund only" strategy, all aimed at reducing merchants' operating costs. In addition, Taobao and Tmall have introduced a series of welfare policies, such as the Return Treasure service, zero-fee instant payment, and full commission rebates for the "Hundreds of Billions in Subsidies" program, giving merchants a "burden-reduction gift package." Specifically, the launch of the Return Treasure service has reduced merchants' return costs, with an average reduction of 20%, and some merchants can even achieve a 30% cost reduction. At the same time, the zero-fee instant payment service provided during Tmall's Double 11 allows merchants to receive payment immediately after shipping, effectively alleviating capital pressure. For merchants participating in the "Hundreds of Billions in Subsidies" program, Tmall will return 100% of all commissions, allowing merchants to participate in promotions and channels at almost zero cost. In addition, Taobao merchants also enjoy "benefit packages" such as commission-free promotions, commission-free store livestreams, and the unbinding of shipping insurance, further reducing operating costs. More notably, Tmall Double 11 has also invested tens of billions in purchasing traffic, cooperating with over 200 internet platforms to comprehensively expand customer flow for merchants. Now, Taotian merchants no longer need to worry about traffic and exposure. JD.com is also not to be outdone, upgrading its "Spring Dawn Plan" to increase support for third-party sellers from three dimensions: traffic support, AI technology efficiency, and ultra-light asset operations. In the livestream field, JD.com has invested up to 1 billion yuan in resources and provides benefits such as free trials of JD Digital Human and return/exchange guarantees. JD.com Group CEO Xu Ran has been bold, stating that they will invest the maximum resources, starting from the core dimensions that merchants care about most—traffic, operations, and services—to strive to provide merchants with a new experience of "more traffic, faster operations, better service, and lower costs," aiming to help the number of small and micro merchants with "daily sales exceeding 10,000 yuan" grow by more than 2 times year-on-year during JD's 11.11, while also increasing the number of merchants with sales over 5 million yuan by more than 50% year-on-year. Even Pinduoduo, which has always favored consumers, has recently increased platform fee reductions for merchants. Pinduoduo launched the "Hundreds of Billions in Reductions" plan, which will reduce fees for quality merchants by 10 billion yuan in the coming year, including promotion service fees, technical service fees, and deposits. In addition, Pinduoduo has lowered the threshold for merchants to withdraw funds from their accounts from 100 yuan to 1 yuan, exempted merchants from logistics transfer fees for remote area orders, reduced the technical fee rate for all buy-now-pay-later orders from 1% to 0.6%, and lowered the basic store deposit from 1,000 yuan to 500 yuan. In response to merchants' frequent complaints about after-sales appeal conditions and free shipping policies, Pinduoduo has also made service adjustments. Now, the platform supports merchants in appealing abnormal orders, malicious complaint orders, etc. After a successful appeal, the platform will compensate for the relevant orders, and there is no longer a limit on the number of appeals merchants can make. At the same time, emerging e-commerce platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu are also actively helping merchants discover growth opportunities within their platforms. For example, Douyin has upgraded its traffic algorithm mechanism, with "content" becoming the key to traffic distribution, and has adjusted commission and deposit rates for different categories. Xiaohongshu, meanwhile, has launched "Juguang Lite," a quick marketing and advertising tool tailored for small and medium merchants, and "Chengfeng," a one-stop marketing and advertising platform. Today, e-commerce platforms have deeply realized that building an excellent business environment is the cornerstone of long-term development. As a result, major e-commerce platforms have adopted various measures such as subsidies, increased traffic, and cost reduction to ensure that merchants no longer fall into the trap of gaining only fame without making money. Image source: Internet In fact, reducing the burden on merchants is also indirectly providing more benefits to consumers. By optimizing supply chain management and improving operational efficiency, merchants can convert saved costs into lower product prices, truly achieving an improvement in "quality-price ratio." The Most Open Double 11: Interconnectivity, Win-Win for All In addition to the two changes mentioned above, this year's Double 11 has also witnessed a new trend—interconnectivity. The Alibaba system and Tencent system, and the Alibaba system and JD system, have made peace, staging a "century reconciliation" in the e-commerce circle. On September 12, Taobao took an important step by officially announcing the addition of WeChat Pay functionality, gradually opening it to all sellers. By the end of September, Taobao had fully integrated with WeChat Pay and officially launched it in its latest version, marking the formal "marriage" of the Alibaba and Tencent systems. Image source: Internet Following that, on September 26, Alibaba and JD.com also experienced a moment of interconnection. Taobao and Tmall are expected to officially integrate JD Logistics in early October, while JD.com is preparing to integrate Cainiao Express and Cainiao Post Stations, and is even more likely to achieve integration with Alipay before Double 11. This series of actions undoubtedly marks the gradual convergence of the two e-commerce giants in the logistics and payment systems. Image source: Internet With this interconnectivity, the previous "each going its own way" situation during Double 11 is gone forever. This year's Double 11 is definitely the most open and inclusive in e-commerce history, not only breaking down the "barriers" between platforms during Double 11 but also signaling that it will become an important turning point for China's e-commerce and even the internet industry. E-commerce platforms actively pursuing interconnectivity is definitely a "superior" wise move. After all, online traffic is now "more monks than porridge," and the competitive environment has long shifted from a "blue ocean" to a "red ocean." Major platforms are facing the dual pressures of slow user growth and fierce competition for market share. With interconnectivity, platforms can share hardcore resources like logistics and payment, saving unnecessary duplicate construction costs, and supply chain efficiency is rising rapidly. Take Taobao's integration of WeChat Pay, for example. This move directly simplifies the payment process and reduces user operational difficulties. Users who previously "switched allegiances" due to incompatible payment methods may now "return" because of the convenience of WeChat Pay. Especially for middle-aged and elderly friends in lower-tier cities and rural areas, they may not be familiar with Alipay, but with WeChat Pay integrated, Taobao can become their "favorite" again. Similarly, JD.com's integration of Alipay can improve user experience while covering a larger user base. During major promotions like Double 11, integrating Alipay also helps divert payment pressure from WeChat Pay, reducing the risk of payment system crashes or delays. For consumers, the simplified payment process undoubtedly enhances the shopping experience, and the diversification of logistics options can better meet the needs of different consumers. For the e-commerce industry, it's also a good thing. As barriers between platforms lower, the competitive focus will shift more toward core business elements such as product quality, price advantage, and service experience. Currently, consumers and merchants are becoming more rational in their approach to Double 11. The core philosophy of industry development is quietly shifting from blindly pursuing scale and market expansion to a deep focus on operational efficiency, user satisfaction, and long-term sustainable development. Platforms, on the one hand, maintain the intensity of Double 11 discounts, while on the other hand, simplify activity rules, optimize user experience, reduce marketing pressure on merchants, and provide subsidies and traffic support. In this wave of platforms competing to optimize the business environment, it is foreseeable that a series of dividends will follow. For merchants, this is undoubtedly a long-awaited turning point. Merchants will usher in a more friendly and fair competitive environment, where they can compete freely and pursue more long-term development. Don't you think so? References:

  1. "Racing to Start 2024 Double 11, Taobao and JD.com's 'Gunpowder' Is a Bit Strong," E-commerce Reference
  2. "Forward-Looking Layout | 2024 Double 11 Preparation Series Report Released!" Feigua Data
  3. "Double 11 Hasn't Arrived Yet, Platforms Are Already Working Hard to Please Merchants," 36kr