AI, discounts, platform shifts: Beauty’s new playbook for China’s 618 festival

China’s 618 shopping festival has long served as a high-stakes battleground for global and domestic beauty brands alike. While livestreaming and subsidies have reshaped the e-commerce landscape, 618 remains a crucial flashpoint for customer acquisition, brand momentum, and competitive positioning. In 2025, however, the rules of engagement have shifted. With new pricing mechanisms, streamlined platform policies, and deeper content-commerce integration, this year’s campaign marks a reset in both strategy and execution. Major changes across platforms include an extended promotional window, simpler mechanics, and stronger support for merchants. These adjustments have already begun to reshape the beauty hierarchy: international brands are reclaiming lost ground, local players are feeling the squeeze, and unbranded products have all but disappeared. Kicking off a full week earlier than last year — and stretching close to 40 days including encore rounds — 2025’s 618 is the longest iteration yet. Still, the unusually early May 13 start may have dampened initial consumer engagement, notes Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies. Rule changes, real impact One of the most consequential changes affecting this year’s 618 retail festival was the cancellation of cross-store discounts and a supposed simplification of pricing rules. Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall platforms abandoned the cumbersome cross-store discounting mechanisms of past years in favor of direct, universal markdowns. A platform-wide 15% discount has been applied to eligible items, while beauty-specific vouchers offer 200 RMB ($28) off every 1,500 RMB ($208) spent, and 150 RMB ($20) off every 900 RMB ($125). These could be stacked with broader site-wide vouchers, allowing for an effective extra 13% off beauty items. “This year’s 618 features the most generous and transparent voucher system in the history of Chinese e-commerce,” a spokesperson for Tmall and Taobao tells Jing Daily. “Beauty consumers, in particular, are benefiting from both platform-wide and category-specific offers.” According to Jack Porteous, commercial director at Chinese cross-cultural agency Tong, the goal was to make the experience more merchant-friendly. “The elimination of cross-store discounts has been a merchant-friendly move, driving up basket sizes for many beauty brands,” he says. Cooke agrees: “Shoppers could immediately see the lowest price on a product page, reducing friction and likely supporting stronger conversion rates.” Initial platform data shows that conversion rates are up and cart abandonment is down, especially in the high-end beauty segment. The approach also helps brands forecast demand more accurately and allocate digital marketing spend with greater precision. However, some complexity remains. “Consumers are still eligible for four, or more coupons with different criteria,” Porteous says. While streamlining discounts reduces the burden on merchants, it also leaves them vulnerable to manipulation. “Savvy users exploit return and cancellation loopholes, leading to high cancellation rates and challenges around stock planning,” he adds. The return of international beauty This year’s 618 leaderboard marks a return to international beauty supremacy. L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Lancôme, and SkinCeuticals all surpassed 100 million RMB ($14 million) in sales within the festival’s first 30 minutes, which begin on May 13. Proya was the only domestic heavyweight to match this early pace, exceeding that milestone in just 10 minutes. “The dominance of international brands is partially cyclical,” Porteous says. “Post-pandemic, they faced excess inventory and pricing instability. This year, those issues appear to have flushed through.” The result: cleaner inventories, global price-matching, exclusive member discounts, and value-rich GWP (gift with purchase) promotions that reignited consumer interest. According to the China Online Consumer Brand Index (compiled by Peking University with support from Taobao and Tmall), beauty is one of the most brand-driven sectors, and legacy advantages matter. “International brands have established strong R&D, brand equity, user bases, and marketing sophistication. Their long-term strategy on Tmall emphasizes localization and less reliance on short-term, traffic-driven promotions,” says the Tmall and Taobao spokesperson. “Domestic brands are catching up through strategic differentiation and deepening consumer insight.” Cooke points out the contrast with domestic brands: “Florasis and Comfy faced trust and PR issues, while broader innovation fatigue has set in. Many local brands rely on the same trending ingredients, creating product overlap and consumer disengagement.” Platform differentiation defines strategy This year’s 618 also reveals divergent platform strengths. Tmall remains the flagship for brand building. Taobao and Tmall account for 45.1% of all beauty sales among major platforms, and they achieved healthy 8.5% YoY growth. Meanwhile, JD.com solidified its luxury beauty positioning through its upgraded “Green Impact Initiative,” a sustainable consumption incentive program launched in partnership with L’Oréal Group and more than 20 beauty brands. “JD’s premium push, fast delivery, and payment flexibility make it the platform of choice for high-ticket luxury,” says Cooke. Douyin continues to excel at DTC and value-driven beauty sales. Its algorithmic targeting and short video formats work well for younger, price-sensitive consumers. Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNoted) emerged as the discovery gateway for functional skincare, helping cosmeceutical brands capitalize on the “efficacy-first” trend. “Customers aren’t loyal to platforms,” says Porteous. “They follow offers and experience. During 618, traditional marketplaces with broad inventory and competitive deals often outperform livestream-focused platforms.” Content-commerce convergence Integrations like the Taobao-Xiaohongshu “Red Cat Plan” and JD.com-Xiaohongshu partnership achieved measurable results. Through joint merchant accounts and performance dashboards, brands can embed Tmall/Taobao links directly into Xiaohongshu recommendation posts. Hero products featured in viral posts receive dedicated platform marketing resources and performance advertising boosts. Cooke highlights a 27% lift in click-through-to-conversion for participating beauty brands. “For trending or functional skincare, this shortened the path from discovery to checkout,” he says. This move capitalizes on a broader trend: beauty shoppers are increasingly influenced by social content before making purchases. Embedding commerce within content ecosystems shortens the funnel from inspiration to transaction. “We’re combining seeding, conversion, and amplification into one closed loop,” says the Taobao and Tmall spokesperson. Porteous has reservations: “Red Cat reflects platform acknowledgment of existing consumer behavior. Xiaohongshu is already the discovery engine. These integrations reduce friction, but don’t yet transform behavior.” Still, the ability to combine social trust with transaction ease is powerful — and set to grow. Livestreaming’s new role The proliferation of year-round livestreaming hasn’t killed the shopping festival model. Instead, 618 has evolved into a concentrated sales and branding blitz. “Premium brands are wary of always-on discounts tied to livestreaming,” says Porteous. “618 allows them to drive acquisition and deepen loyalty without eroding brand equity.” Cooke concurs: “618 acts as a mid-year checkpoint to test strategies, push product, and gain campaign data. The exposure from homepage placements and top-tier influencers is still unmatched.” Indeed, 618 is not just about sales; it’s a strategic touchpoint for launching new SKUs, testing consumer sentiment and pricing elasticity, and benchmarking performance ahead of Double 11 and year-end campaigns. AI enters the arena AI was the behind-the-scenes star of this year’s 618. Taobao and Tmall deployed their full suite of AI tools, including Quanzhantui, which helped 1.4 million merchants with performance optimization. Their new “Image-to-Video” tool generated over 1.5 million videos in the lead-up to this year’s 618, allowing beauty brands to rapidly scale content production. “Alibaba’s AI toolkit enables speed, targeting, and content agility,” says Porteous. “But platforms still need to refine their coupon and pricing UX. Even with AI, complexity can undermine conversion.” In May alone, Taobao and Tmall produced over 100 million pieces of AI-generated marketing content. These capabilities helped brands reduce costs while maintaining a high campaign tempo. What’s next From frictionless pricing to real-time social commerce integrations, Chinese platforms are redefining what large-scale digital retail looks like. For beauty players, the lesson is clear: a successful 618 isn’t about chasing the lowest price. It’s about combining content, commerce, and conversion through the right platform mix, pricing discipline, and customer-centric storytelling. 618 is no longer just a sales event. It’s a strategic mirror reflecting how well brands understand, engage, and serve Chinese beauty consumers at scale.

618 emerges as beauty’s mid-year strategy test

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618 emerges as beauty’s mid-year strategy test