SHENZHEN – China in 2025 held the longest run of its annual Double 11 shopping extravaganza as e-commerce platforms sought to drum up spending in a tepid economy.
But the country’s largest online sales event yielded little clear evidence that the sluggish sentiment among thrifty Chinese shoppers is improving.
For the fourth year running, major platforms did not announce total sales values – metrics they once trumpeted – instead turning to feel-good statements, which are difficult to meaningfully compare.
JD.com said that its sales as at Nov 11 had set a new record, with nearly 60 per cent more orders and 40 per cent more users placing them. Douyin said that 67,000 brands had doubled sales year on year. Alibaba, whose sale ends on Nov 14, has yet to announce results in full.
Third-party data provider Syntun estimated that 2025’s Double 11 pulled in 1.695 trillion yuan (S$309 billion) in sales, up from 1.44 trillion yuan in 2024.
But it gave the caveat that the data’s comparability was limited, given that promotion windows were different. Alibaba’s sale, for instance, ran for two days longer than in 2024, and JD.com’s for four days longer, it said.
E-commerce industry observer Li Jianggan noted that 2025’s Double 11 sales appeared “neither weak nor showing explosive growth”, reflecting that Chinese consumers today were “still spending, but with a stronger focus on rationality and value”.
shopping festivals
like Double 11 are a barometer of consumption growth, the government will need to do more to raise household spending if its share of the economy is to increase.
Double 11, also known as Singles’ Day, began in 2009 as a day-long shopping festival on Nov 11, but later ballooned into a multi-week extravaganza. In 2025, it started as early as Oct 7 and ended as late as Nov 14 – days longer than in 2024.
For 30-year-old Ms Emily Lin, the marquee event once meant staying up late into the night to chase deals, shelling out more than 10,000 yuan on everything from cosmetics to down jackets.
But in 2025, she spent just 2,000 yuan on Double 11 discounted vouchers for her parents’ health check-ups – “not because it was Double 11, but because I needed to”.
Ms Lin, who works in finance, now describes herself as “more rational” – buying things when she needs them, and not because there are sales festivals.
Her comments echoed the views of many shoppers whom The Straits Times spoke to, who said they were cooling on Double 11 amid a proliferation of sales and discounts throughout the year.
“How can people get excited if every day has become a shopping holiday?” asked Ms Jiang Yaling, founder of consumer research consultancy ApertureChina, noting that Double 11 had begun to “feel irrelevant to consumers”.
Other shopping events which are stealing Double 11’s thunder include JD.com’s 618, a mid-year event lasting a month, 12.12 sales in December, and International Women’s Day sales in March.
The Chinese economy is also grappling with deflation as stiff competition prompts businesses to cut prices, in turn making goods for consumers cheaper even on a regular day.
Beijing’s fix for this phenomenon could well also have dampened sales. Amid a nationwide campaign against unhealthy price competition, some businesses have cut back on Double 11 deals, making people less inclined to buy.
Singaporean entrepreneur Chong Yan Ting, who sells handbags on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Taobao, said she offered just 15 per cent off the regular price on selected items in 2025, down from an average of 40 per cent in discounts in 2024.
The result, she said, was a drop of about 30 per cent to 40 per cent in revenue, given Chinese consumers’ price sensitivity. But with higher prices came larger margins, and her profits doubled.
Getting China’s shoppers to spend more has long been a priority for the country’s policymakers – a pledge they are doubling down on in the country’s latest economic road map, or five-year plan.
Consumer sentiment, however, has been weak
amid a years-long real estate slump. Retail spending grew just 2.9 per cent in October, its slowest clip in more than a year.
China’s top leaders pledged in October stronger support to lift consumption, and to significantly boost the share of consumption in the country’s economy.
“Consumers are still cautious,” said Mr Gary Ng, a senior economist at investment bank Natixis. “Shopping festivals have an increasingly muted impact compared with the past.”
To meaningfully raise consumption, China will need stronger growth and inflation, which in turn boosts wages, people’s wealth and companies’ profits – “what households and corporates see in their bank accounts”, he said.
That is likely to move the needle for taxi driver Su Yiwen, 51, who said 2025 had been the most difficult since he started driving taxis in 2003. Competition was intense, with more people – even “bosses” – starting to drive ride-hailing vehicles to make a living, he said.
Asked if he bought anything during the Double 11 sale, he said “no”. “The economy is not good. There’s no money.”
