The "longest" Double 11 in history comes to a close! New platforms changing the e-commerce landscape, as "cats and dogs" shift from "battle" to "collaboration".

In 2024, the major e-commerce platforms officially ended their Double 11 promotions. It is worth noting that this year's Double 11 had a longer duration and more changes. The traditional Tmall Double 11 Gala was canceled, and the media live broadcast hall, which had been running for many years, was also canceled; JD.com on November 11 also made a change from the high-profile promotions in previous years, and the "cat-dog battle" turned into "cat-dog cooperation." From an industry perspective, new platforms represented by Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu are gradually changing the landscape of e-commerce. Due to the impact of live streaming e-commerce, the attraction of big promotions to consumers continues to weaken; the increasing flow and operating costs of online platforms also put considerable pressure on businesses and brands. Even during this year's Double 11, Tmall admitted in a statement to the media that November 11 has become a day that people both love and hate, filled with jokes, complaints, and countless imperfections. Undoubtedly, the emergence of Double 11 has led to the development of a series of digital, cloud computing, logistics, AI, and other basic infrastructure, driving the revolution in retail and consumer goods, which is still the "best test field" for many businesses and platforms to adjust their business strategies and rethink their strategies, and remains an important stage for new brands and companies to achieve growth. But as Double 11 evolves from a "sweet little one" to a "lady of the cattle," Tmall and JD.com need to continue exploring new promotion models. From the "cat-dog battle" to "cat-dog cooperation," what's next for e-commerce platforms? Taobao Tmall and JD.com have been the main "battlefields" of Double 11 promotions in previous years, but this year the competition between the two has turned into a certain degree of "cooperation." Before Double 11, Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent, and Meituan successively announced the opening of multiple dimensions of interconnection. This strategy indeed enhanced the consumer activity of this year's Double 11 promotion. Analyses and research data from iiMedia Research show that this year's competition among different platforms not only includes "confrontation" in terms of discount strength and marketing strategies, but also focuses on improving user experience and paying attention to merchant services as new common themes. At the same time, the sales cycle of the platforms has been extended and accelerated, without dispersing user activity in the later stages of the platform. During this year's Double 11 promotion, daily active users (DAU) of Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have all significantly increased. JD.com data shows that by 11:59 on November 11, the number of shopping users during the promotion period had increased by over 20% year-on-year, with orders from JD.com's purchasing and selling live broadcasts increasing by 3.8 times year-on-year. The turnover of over 17,000 brands increased by over 5 times year-on-year, while the turnover of over 30,000 small and medium-sized businesses increased by over 2 times year-on-year. This year, several provinces and cities in the country offered subsidies for upgrading household appliances, which significantly benefited JD.com. During the promotion period, the turnover of 519 household appliance categories such as Siasun Robot&Automation and dryer increased by 200%, while the turnover of various AI hardware categories such as AI computers and AI phones exceeded 100%. In addition, the turnover of game CPUs, headphones, and sports cameras increased by over 100% year-on-year. Tmall's Double 11 "battle report" also highlighted the activity in user and merchant transactions. By midnight on November 11, the turnover of 589 brands on Tmall exceeded 100 million yuan for the entire cycle, a year-on-year increase of 46.5%, breaking historical records. Among them, 45 brands such as Apple, Haier, Midea, Xiaomi, Nike, and Wuliangye Yibin exceeded 1 billion yuan in turnover, while trendy brands like miHoYo, beauty brands like Tom Ford, and Carlgene entered the "billion-yuan club" for Double 11 turnover for the first time. In terms of user scale, the number of Taobao 88VIP members continues to grow, with an increase in consumption willingness providing strong momentum for brand growth. By midnight on November 11, the number of orders placed by 88VIP members increased by over 50% compared to the same period last year. According to previous data disclosures, the number of Taobao 88VIP members had exceeded 42 million in the first half of this year. In addition, the turnover of orders under the "Hundred Billion Super Subsidy" activity on Taobao exceeded 150 million, with a 50% year-on-year increase in the number of orders placed. Under this activity, over a hundred best-selling single products achieved turnover exceeding 100 million yuan. Taobao Live Rooms also remained active. By midnight on November 11, the turnover of Taobao Live rooms exceeded 100 million yuan in 119 rooms, reaching a record high, with 49 rooms achieving over 100% year-on-year growth in turnover. Overall turnover and the number of purchasing users on Taobao Live during this year's Double 11 have seen a significant year-on-year increase. Traditional anchors are back, and MCN agencies have more roles to play Looking at this year's Double 11, it's not just Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com anymore; top anchors and live e-commerce are becoming increasingly important. At the start of this year's Double 11, the attention and discussion around Li Jiaqi's live room saw another surge, with multiple beauty and skincare products selling out on the first day of pre-sale. The gimmick of distributing 500 million yuan worth of red envelopes in the early stages of pre-sale also became a focal point of attention and discussion for many consumers. As the Double 11 promotion concluded on November 11, Li Jiaqi's live room featured nearly 1,700 participating brands, an increase of nearly 20% in the number of brands compared to last year, with a total of over 4,000 product links covering almost all consumer categories. Chinese brands accounted for over 60% of the products. In comparison to Li Jiaqi's high-profile presence, EAST BUY and Dong Yuhui have shown a more subdued approach. According to data from the third-party data platform Chan Mama, during the Double 11 promotion period on Douyin (October 18th to November 11th), the top 5 sales leaders among anchors were a couple from Guangdong, a couple dealing with Hetian jade from Xinjiang, Jia Nailiang, and others. Compared to other hosts who took breaks during the long promotion period, Dong Yuhui's account remained active throughout the promotion. According to representatives of Dong Yuhui's team, they did not overly focus on the platform's promotion rhythm during the promotional period but instead maintained a steady approach. According to observations from the New Consumer Daily, Dong Yuhui appeared 3-4 days a week with high-frequency appearances in various product categories sessions. Looking at daily live streaming data, Dong Yuhui did not have any sessions during the promotion that reached over 100 million yuan in sales for a single day; even with Dong Yuhui's presence, the highest daily turnover was often between 50-75 million yuan. The daily turnover of the account was concentrated between 10-25 million yuan, consistently ranking among the top five live streamers in terms of sales on the platform. EAST BUY also maintained continuous participation in the promotion activities, and Yu Minhong also frequently appeared in various product categories' live streaming sessions. During the Double 11 promotion, the daily live streaming data for EAST BUY showed a considerable year-on-year increase in both overall turnover and the number of purchasing users.Carry out a special live streaming sales event. On November 4th, Yu Minhong and Dong Mingzhu joined forces to promote goods in the EAST BUY live streaming room. From visiting the Gree factory to sitting down for a conversation in the live streaming room, during the Double 11 period, national subsidies combined with corporate discounts brought in a significant amount of viewership and transaction volume for EAST BUY. On the day of the live broadcast, the EAST BUY live streaming room ranked in the top five on the platform's sales chart, and even briefly topped the best-selling chart on Douyin.Therefore, November 4th was the biggest day in terms of daily sales volume during the EAST BUY big promotion. Data from Chanmama shows that the total transaction volume for EAST BUY on that day was between 25 to 50 million yuan, while the average daily sales volume for the account during the promotion was between 10 to 25 million yuan. Significant decline in daily traffic and lack of high-frequency hot topics during the promotion period led to EAST BUY's account ranking on Douyin for Double 11 at only 19th place, even lower than EAST BUY's Beauty Life Matrix account which ranked 16th. It is known that the Beauty Life Matrix account mainly focuses on higher-priced makeup and skincare products. Also ranking in the top 20 in Douyin live streaming for Double 11 is the "Make Friends" live streaming room, ranking at 14th place for sales. Make Friends is also notable for being one of the few MCN agencies that announced multiple times their growth in sales during the Double 11 promotion. By November 11th, Make Friends had achieved a total GMV of over 6.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 158%, with over 7.14 million cumulative orders, setting a new record for the promotion. On Douyin, the main account live streaming GMV increased by 63%, the Douyin vertical matrix live streaming GMV increased by 60%, and the Make Friends Taobao live streaming GMV increased by 73%. During this year's Double 11, Make Friends also introduced many marketing topics. For example, on October 24th, Make Friends celebrated its two-year anniversary on Taobao Live by successfully selling tickets for the 2027 space travel ship. Foshan Yowant Technology stated that this year, they are no longer focusing on data-driven approaches but rather emphasizing on "making each IP better." The company has extended the Double 11 period to expand live streaming activities, with over 150 live IPs completing a total of 1,512 live streams, accumulating over 10,000 hours. According to Foshan Yowant Technology, innovation in IP content is key to the success of live streaming, and during Double 11, the company leveraged "content-drive sales" to generate a total order volume of over 11.77 million, with a total of over 195,000 products listed. Chinese brands accounted for over 59% of the GMV in the first half of Double 11 at Foshan Yowant Technology. Clearly, with the deeper penetration of e-commerce, Pinduoduo's "low-price storm" and the expansion of live e-commerce, online shopping has become the daily routine for the vast majority of people. When consumers can purchase products with good value for money online every day, it seems that Double 11 has already fulfilled its interim mission. However, for e-commerce enterprises seeking high-quality growth, finding the next revolutionary new model with the same significance as "Double 11" has become the next challenge. This article is reproduced from Cailianshe, GMTEight editor: Chen Wenfang.