The world’s biggest shopping festival is back. And this year, it has returned even earlier than usual.

The “Singles’ Day,” or “Double Eleven,” festival started out as a 24-hour sales extravaganza held on Nov. 11. But this year, China’s tech giants have already begun offering discounts a full month ahead of the big day.

Alibaba, as well as its competitors JD.com and Pinduoduo, all launched their Singles’ Day sales periods on Monday — over a week earlier than last year.

It’s a sign of the intense pressure the Chinese e-commerce platforms are facing, as they battle sluggish consumer demand and a growing threat from newer rivals such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Singles’ Day is always a crucial period for China’s tech giants. It is by far the world’s largest shopping festival, with last year’s edition generating a massive 1.14 trillion yuan ($160 billion) in total sales.

For the companies, the event not only has an outsized impact on their annual revenues; it has also become an important barometer that investors use to judge their performance.

But the stakes appear to be even higher than usual for Singles’ Day 2024. Liu Bo, vice president of Alibaba Group, has called this year’s festival a “critical moment” due to the change in consumer sentiment in China over recent months.

With consumers more focused than previously on getting value for money, many are holding off on purchases until major shopping festivals, when they can bulk-buy items at a low price, Liu explained.

What’s more, the competition in China’s e-commerce sector has never been more intense. Traditional players such as Alibaba and JD.com are not only losing market share to e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo, but also to social platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, which have integrated e-commerce into their apps.

With Chinese consumers increasingly buying items based on recommendations they’ve seen from influencers during livestreams and short videos, the traditional e-commerce platforms are struggling to stay relevant.

During last year’s Singles’ Day, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and the Alibaba-owned platforms Taobao and Tmall lost significant market share to livestream e-commerce, according to data analysis firm Syntun.

Livestream e-commerce platforms generated 215 billion yuan in sales, up 19% year over year. Traditional e-commerce platforms, meanwhile, generated 924 billion in sales, down 1% year over year.

Alibaba and JD.com are fighting hard to avoid losing more ground this year. Though Alibaba has stressed that the longer sales period is about providing customers with a better service, it is also about boosting gross merchandise volume.

Taobao, Alibaba’s largest e-commerce platform, has started its Singles’ Day sales period a full 10 days earlier than last year.

In a sign of how times have changed, Alibaba and JD.com have even begun cooperating more closely, as the once-fierce rivals try to boost their sales by any means possible.

In September, Alibaba made a historic decision to integrate WeChat Pay — a digital payment service owned by rival tech giant Tencent — into Taobao and Tmall.

According to Wu Jia, another vice president of Alibaba Group, the move will allow the company to reach more younger users and consumers in lower-tier markets, where WeChat Pay is especially popular.

Wu also revealed that Alibaba plans to integrate JD Logistics into its supply chain before Singles’ Day, providing users and merchants with more delivery options.

Li Chengdong, an e-commerce analyst who previously worked for Tencent, told domestic media that the announcements reflect the fact that Alibaba and JD.com no longer see each other as their primary competitors. Both now see Douyin and Pinduoduo as their chief threats, Li added.

The platforms are also competing hard on discounts. Taobao and Tmall have reintroduced pre-sale schemes — which allow customers to pre-order items by paying a small deposit — just months after scrapping them for June’s 618 shopping day, founded by JD.com.

The platforms are also offering a complex mix of different discounts, in some cases allowing consumers to claim two or three different deductions for the same purchase.

Making things even more complex, the government is also handing out its own subsidies this year as part of a stimulus package. Under a trade-in program, users who buy certain home appliances and digital devices will receive discounts of up to 20%.

The complex pricing systems, however, have generated some backlash on Chinese social media, with many users complaining about how confusing the shopping experience has become.

For Li, the analyst, the platforms’ intense competition on price is a sign of their desperation to lure consumers this Singles’ Day.

“This race to secure orders also reflects the pessimism about market demand, with most platforms under significant performance pressure,” Li said.

Ultimately, however, Alibaba and JD.com are swimming against the current, Li suggested. Even all these innovations might not be enough to prevent them from losing more market share over the coming weeks.

“Last year, they experienced negative growth during Singles’ Day, and this year’s outlook isn’t very optimistic either,” Li said. “There is a possibility that things could be worse than last year.”

(Header image: A billboard advertising special offers for Budweiser beer during the “Double Eleven” shopping festival on e-commerce platform JD.com is seen on a street in Beijing, Oct. 13, 2024. IC)