Many e-commerce platforms saw hiking sales on the June 18 online shopping spree. Public statistics show that as at 15:00 June 18, over 110 billion yuan of orders have been placed on JD.com during the mid-year online shopping spree starting from June 1. Tmall, Suning.com and other e-commerce platforms also recorded orders with high amounts.
The Nov. 11 online shopping festival has turned to March 15, June 18 and other time. The first half to the mid-year is the off-season for the retail industry. The June 18 shopping spree may change the periodic practice of the retail industry.
For e-commerce platforms, the June 18 of this year is a big challenge after JD.com achieved profits on the whole for the first time. It is also the first test after the platforms of Alibaba raised the concept of “new e-commerce”. Based on the mid-year online shopping spree, new characteristics of China’s upgraded consumption can be seen.
Firstly, intelligent retails have preliminarily taken shape and are leading the upgrading of consumption. The development of technologies has increasing effects on the retail industry in recent years. It changed the operation and management processes of retails. With the development of the Internet and the Internet of Things, e-commerce platforms can sense the consumption habits and predict consumption trends to guide the production and manufacturing and provide consumers with diversified and customized products and services.
From the retail ecology covering of all channels of Suning to the supply chain mechanism driven by data established by JD.com and leaders in the 3C industry, intelligent retails have become new trends for the upgrading of consumption. During the June 18 shopping spree of this year, some e-commerce platforms firstly adopted robots and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in delivery. It has shown more features of intelligent retails. In the future, the intelligent retails will extend to more sectors.
Secondly, channels and manufacturers are increasingly competing against each other. The integration of the upgrading consumption and the high-end supply has become a new topic. LeTV stated on June 18 that Tmall and JD.com offered price subsidies on the basis of the discounts of LeTV and forced LeTV to pay for most of the subsidies. It is a typical case in the competition between channels and manufacturers under the current conditions. It will also force manufacturers advancing towards the high end. A responsible person from a home appliance manufacturer indicated that the high-end standards of manufacturers will not be limited to the price. They will seek experiences and services for the whole life of all products and seek the integration of the upgrading consumption and high-end supply.
Thirdly, as traditional financial institutes participated in, the integration of consumption and finance is speeding up. After e-commerce platforms represented by Alibaba and JD.com introducing their own financial products for consumption as payment methods for shopping, traditional financial institutes also participated in this year. Take Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., Ltd. (600000.SH) as an example, it offers discounts for clients shopping on Taobao.com, Tall, Suning.com and other platforms from June 1 to 30. In addition, many urban commercial banks, including the Bank of Beijing and the Bank of Ningbo, are also promoting the deep integration of consumption and finance through various means.
Chinese consumption is advancing towards originality, intelligence, green, delicacy, globalization and experiences.
Based on the three trends in the June 18 online shopping spree, it can be seen that consumers are caring more about intelligent, high-end and advance consumption instead of price. The acceleration in the upgrading of consumption and the entertainment consumption, individualized data as well as global shopping may become new trends of China’s upgrading consumption.
Translated by Star Zhang
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