Key Takeaways#
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- Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall brought in sales of 75.1 billion (498.2 billion yuan) between November 1-11, while JD.com's sales figures for the same period were 40.9 billion (271.5 billion yuan).
- JD Luxury benefited from pent-up demand and saw whole day sales on November 1 jump by 138 percent, year-on-year.
- On November 1, in the first 30 minutes, 127 brands, including Ferragamo, Ralph Lauren, and Tod’s, reported sales ten times the amount of the previous year.
2020’s backlog of demand brought in incredible sales numbers for China’s major e-commerce players. Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall registered sales of 75.1 billion (498.2 billion yuan) between November 1-11, while JD.com's sales figures for the same period were 40.9 billion (271.5 billion yuan), according to the Associated Press.
In recent years, JD has strengthened its position as a reputable partner with global luxury brands, primarily because of its smart supply chain technology, customer-centric approach, impressive market share, and determined fight against brand piracy.
As stated by JD’s corporate blog, the Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza began well for luxury brands. JD Luxury benefited from pent-up demand and saw sales on November 1 jump by 138 percent, year-on-year. Furthermore, in the first 30 minutes, 127 brands, including Ferragamo, Ralph Lauren, and Tod’s, reported sales ten times the amount of the previous year. International jewelry brands also reported sales growth of up to six times the amount of 2019.
Michael Norris, a research and strategy manager at Agency China, told the BBC that the number of luxury brands participating in this year’s Singles’ Day event has doubled. Moreover, Norris highlights how strict travel restrictions have accelerated the move of luxury sales to online platforms. “We anticipate ongoing international restrictions will cause a meaningful shift in Chinese consumers buying luxury online,” says Norris.
Singles’ Day Marketing: How did JD lure customers to its platform during the shopping extravaganza?
Livestreaming#
As mentioned by The Chinese Livestreaming Report and Agency China, livestreaming has become the most widespread video format in China. The growing popularity of live commerce has increased sales and excited a new generation of customers.
JD understood how to take advantage of this feature and transformed the shopping extravaganza into a veritable livestreaming marathon. In fact, this year, JD held over 500 livestream shows with over 300 celebrities and more than 500 CEOs. Additionally, on November 10, JD launched its “Super Livestream Night." That evening, the power of the live video sales was on full display when, in only 6 seconds, livestreaming e-commerce sales exceeded 15 million (100 million yuan).
Special events#
Special programs and lavish events attended by global celebrities are already a fixture during Singles’ Day.
This year, the concert pianist genius Lang Lang and his talented wife, Gina Redlinger, performed at JD’s headquarter and held a livestreaming session on JD Live. Additionally, JD kicked off the shopping celebrations with a special episode of the popular stand-up comedy competition Rock and Roast.
New product launches#
According to a state-run web portal of the People's Republic of China called The China Internet Information Center, JD Worldwide planned to put forward over 500,000 imported goods from more than 100 countries and regions across the globe. Overall, JD launched more than 300 million new products.
Unique services#
The Chinese e-commerce giant is already famous for its personalized “white-glove” delivery service for the JD Luxury Express orders. But it also offers supplementary services, such as the JD full-price, trade-in service that was already popular with consumers during the 618 Grand Promotion event and the extended, 30-day price guarantee that comes with various product categories.
Additionally, third-party sellers who took part in the Singles’ Day event offered “refund + compensation” price protection services, and some home-decor categories prolonged the platform’s free return policy from a week to 30 days.
Competitive pricing#
The platform offered more than 200 million half-price products to its customers. Additional sales and discounts were also applied, and some lower-tier-city buyers enjoyed lower prices and customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) products.
JD also participated in the “Double 10 Billion Project,” which took advantage of local governments offering shopping vouchers and subsidies.
Gamification#
JD’s corporate blog highlights that two new interactive games were launched that allowed customers to earn “red envelopes” and plant trees on a virtual “JD Farm.”
The latter game offered users the opportunity to earn cases of real fruit by caring for a tree, for which JD has prepared 5 million cases of free fruit. Customers could win a box of fruit in as little as one day.