618 shopping day

618 shopping day is a shopping festival created by JD.com. The festival is celebrated annually on the 18th June (6th Month), hence the name '618'.[1]

'618' is significant as is the date JD.com was founded by Liu Qiangdong on 18 June 1998.[2] It was first started in 2010, as a competitor to the shopping festival launched by rival Taobao, Singles' Day (or Double 11 in Chinese).

In 2022, JD.com saw slower growth in the 618 shopping day event, due to slowing economic conditions and COVID-19 outbreaks in china.[3][4][5]

Adoption

Since its creation in 2010, June 18th has become the second largest shopping day in China after Singles' Day on November 11. Although originally created by JD.com, it has now been adopted by other platforms, including Taobao, Pinduoduo and others. The volume of sales rivals Black Friday in the US. In 2020, there were hundreds of billions of USD in sales occurring across multiple platforms.[6] Massive volumes of sales have been reported in other years as well.[7][8][9]

A number of foreign companies operating in China have also taken part in the festival and offered their own deals for June 18th. In 2019, Apple sold 100 million CNY (about 15 million USD) of products within the first three minutes.[10]

Controversy

More than 50 book issued joint statements on May 20, 2024, saying that they would not participate in the 618 shopping day because of aggressive pricing policies that required them to offer discounts of 20% to 30% on JD.com.[11]

Influence

The hot 618 not only injects momentum into the accelerated recovery of the consumer market, but also helps accelerate the transformation and upgrading of China's retail industry.

As of 2:00 pm on June 18, 2020, JD Supermarket's sales report not only reflects the booming trend of transactions on various platforms during this year's 618 shopping festival, but also reflects the huge potential of the Chinese consumer market.

The 618, which involves both online and offline participation, injects strong momentum into the accelerated recovery of the consumer market.[12]

Expand reading

1.Observing the 618 promotion: Consumption is gradually becoming more rational, and the integration of business formats is becoming the trend[13]

2. Looking at the Consumer Recovery Behind the "6.18" Data[14]

References

  1. ^ "JD's priority for 618 2017: Online + offline in 5 areas". June 2017.
  2. ^ "Why June 18th (618) became a Shopping Festival?". Eggsist | IT advisory firm in China - Internationalization and software development. 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  3. ^ "China's JD.com posts slowest growth ever in '618' shopping event". Reuters. 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  4. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (2022-06-16). "China's multi-billion dollar shopping festival tests e-commerce giants and consumer appetite". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  5. ^ Ahern, Brendan. "Shopping Festival Sales On June 18 Rise & Highlight New Consumer Habits, Asian Equities Flash Risk Off". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  6. ^ 中国发展网, "万亿级销售总额，“618”购物节带动消费回暖", http://www.chinadevelopment.com.cn/news/zj/2020/06/1656783.shtml#, retrieved June 11th 2022
  7. ^ Xinhua, “618”电商网购节迎来高潮——线上汇聚消费新动能, [1], retrieved June 12th 2022
  8. ^ CCTV 《618电商购物节》 20210618, https://tv.cctv.com/2021/06/19/VIDElLcq5s01fdXBYmzvt5op210619.shtml, retrieved June 12th 2022
  9. ^ Tencent News, 京东618，怎么就成了别人家的狂欢节？, https://new.qq.com/omn/20210619/20210619A03EAI00.html, retrieved June 12th 2022
  10. ^ China Daily, June 18 shopping festival hits the mark, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201906/20/WS5d0afbd5a3103dbf143294e2.html, retrieved June 11th 2022
  11. ^ Laura He (2024-05-22). "Apple offers biggest-ever iPhone discounts in China as annual '618' shopping festival begins". CNN.
  12. ^ 人民日报, 人民日报 (2020-06-19). "新模式不断涌现！火爆"618" 加速消费复苏_中国经济网——国家经济门户". 中国经济网. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  13. ^ 杨清清, 师洁 (2023-06-20). "静观618大促：消费渐趋理性 业态融合成大势所趋". 中国知网. doi:10.28723/n.cnki.nsjbd.2023.002297.
  14. ^ 旭颖, 刘 (2023-06-26). "看"6·18"数据背后的消费回暖". doi:10.28270/n.cnki.ngjsb.2023.002294.