The "Double 11" battle kicks off early, with AI becoming a key driver.

The 2026 "Double 11" shopping festival has kicked off, with Tmall and JD.com holding promotional launch events on October 15, while Douyin announced its launch the same day, as leading platforms compete head-to-head. Facing competition in a saturated market, platforms have abandoned the complicated tactics of previous years, moving the promotion earlier and simplifying campaign rules to compete for user attention and merchant resources. Unlike previous years, when growth was driven mainly by price subsidies, a notable change in this year's "Double 11" is that AI has become a key lever, with AI tools and e-commerce intelligent agents covering the entire chain of merchant operations. At the same time, one-click overseas expansion tools, overseas warehouse fulfillment systems and cross-border AI applications are continuously lowering the threshold for cross-border operations, and overseas expansion business is expected to become a new highlight of this year's promotion. Industry insiders say one-click overseas expansion has greatly lowered the threshold for merchants to go global, overseas warehouses have addressed the pain points of cross-border logistics timeliness and after-sales experience, and cross-border AI agents have filled shortcomings in inquiries, customs declaration, compliance and risk control. Overall, competition in e-commerce overseas expansion is shifting from the mere export of goods to a contest of comprehensive service capabilities.