Can 618 E-Commerce Shopping Festival Activate The Consumer Market

The annual "618 e-commerce shopping festival" is coming again. Under the background of increasing downward pressure on China's economy and frequent outbreaks of epidemic diseases, "618" is regarded as an important node to stimulate consumption and regain confidence.

Experts believe that this year's "618" is very special. In addition to the promotion features of previous years, the more important thing is to cooperate with brand enterprises to break through the downward trend in consumption, so as to solve the urgent needs of brand enterprises with lower promotion cost, more stable supply chain service and faster capital settlement.

Activate the short-term consumption market

Earlier opening time and longer duration are the main features of "618" in recent years. At 8:00 p.m. on May 23, Jingdong fully opened the "618" in 2022, which will last until June 20; On the same day, pinduoduo and Suning e-buy also officially launched "618"; On May 26, the pre-sale of "618" of tmall began.

Preferential rules are also simpler. Jingdong upgraded the "No.1 JINGTIE" to cross store full discount, so consumers can enjoy 50% discount for every 299 full customers instead of receiving tickets separately; Tmall's Cross store discount has been upgraded from "200 minus 30" last year to "300 minus 50" this year; Pinduoduo directly benefits consumers by means of platform red packets, 10 billion subsidy, 50% return for over 300, direct drop of big brands, buy one get one free and other welfare benefits; Vipshop introduces "exclusive price + red packet of single product". Users don't need to collect a single item, and one item can be reduced immediately.

"618" every year is an important window to show China's consumption strength. According to the public data, in 2021, the total amount of commodity transactions of "618" will reach 578.5 billion yuan, an increase of 26.5% over the same period of last year. Within four hours after the opening of the pre-sale at 8:00 p.m. on May 23 this year, the pre-sale amount of Jingdong household appliances reached three times that of the whole day last year. As of 12:00 p.m. on May 24, the total pre-sale amount of Jingdong appliances increased by 270% compared with the same period last year.

Li Mingtao, chief e-commerce expert of China international e-commerce center of the Ministry of Commerce, said that activating consumption should become a priority of current economic policies, and a strong driving force to deal with the economic downturn should be formed quickly by promoting consumption. At the same time, active consumption is also an important manifestation of confidence in future economic development. At present, confidence is more important than gold. "618" is the most important centralized promotion activity of online retail in China in the first half of the year, especially when the growth of social consumption has entered a downward channel and offline retail is greatly affected by epidemic prevention and control measures, this year's "618" promotion should become a key battle to stimulate consumption and regain confidence.

Li Yongjian, a researcher at the Institute of financial strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that at present, such a widely recognized promotion activity is needed to stimulate consumers' desire for consumption, thus boosting consumption, showing China's huge domestic demand market to the international market, and giving full play to the advantages of a strong domestic market. At the same time, it is necessary to boost the real economy through "618".

　　 "618" will activate the short-term consumption market by means of concentrated consumption. Affected by the epidemic, more consumers are willing to store goods. The past consumption patterns such as separation and simple luxury life have changed. Now consumers are more pragmatic, and the demand for centralized purchasing of daily necessities is growing. And "618" provides such an opportunity for consumers to compare with each other Low price to achieve centralized consumption. I believe that this year's "618" will be more lively than in previous years. " Pan Helin, CO director and researcher of digital economy and financial innovation research center of International Business School of Zhejiang University, said.

Boost offline real economy

On May 26, the mobile phone brand real me launched the "618" promotion. According to the data of China Academy of communications and communications, in the first four months of this year, the overall mobile phone shipment in the domestic market dropped by 30.3%. Xu Qi, vice president of zhenwo realme and President of China, told the Economic Daily that the mobile phone industry is facing great pressure and challenges at present, and zhenwo realme will reduce its global sales target of 10% to 20% this year. "618" is the most important promotion node in the first half of the year. Especially when the economic downturn is under great pressure, consumers will be more sensitive to prices and pay more attention to promotion nodes. It is expected that "618" will bring a wave of consumption peak. More channels will be selected by tmall and other mainstream e-commerce companies.

Obviously, "618" is not only online carnival, but also online and offline resonance. As Dai Shan, President of Alibaba's domestic digital commerce sector, said, "in the situation of great volatility and uncertainty in the domestic consumer market, how to help businesses stabilize the market and have growth is the most important thing this year.".

Xin Lijun, CEO of Jingdong retail, said that this year, Jingdong's "618" will build a more healthy, open and orderly ecology for businesses, providing hundreds of thousands of businesses with opportunities for sustainable development. Jingdong will focus on small and medium-sized businesses, reduce the impact of the epidemic on small and medium-sized businesses through a series of cost reduction and efficiency enhancement measures, and help them increase the input-output ratio of Jingdong "618" by at least 20%.

It is understood that this year, "618" Jingdong will unite with several million offline physical stores to jointly realize the online and offline same frequency. At the same time, JD has also cooperated with Shenzhen and other cities to issue consumption vouchers through the Jingdong smart city consumption promotion platform, covering many online and offline consumption scenarios, and continuously stimulating consumption potential. In addition, the real-time retail business of Jingdong retail will also combine with more than 150000 offline physical stores in China, such as Wal Mart, China Resources Vanguard, Apple authorized distribution stores, Sephora, and child king, to provide consumers in more than 1700 counties, districts and cities with instant retail experience in the same city.

Pinduoduo, together with more than 500 official brand flagship stores, launched a "special brand show", and launched special relief measures and special support for businesses in industrial belts and agricultural production areas seriously affected by the epidemic, so as to promote the direct connection of high-quality goods to the national market and help the consumption recover.

Suning e-buy is oriented to the county and town markets, with more than 11000 retail Cloud Gate stores and more than 1800 home appliance brands to provide users with solutions for consumption around "home scene".

Li Mingtao believes that under the influence of comprehensive factors, the current offline real economy is facing great challenges. Due to the superposition of adverse factors such as rising raw material prices, logistics interruption, production hindrance, sluggish demand and poor capital turnover, enterprises in trouble urgently need to find a breakthrough. On the one hand, enterprises can quickly digest inventory and withdraw funds; on the other hand, they can use the consumption trend of "618" to master the rhythm and characteristics of demand change, timely adjust products and optimize supply, so as to better meet the market needs in the post epidemic era.

The "convenient online and offline shopping platform" of the State Council has promoted the online and offline shopping experience of the State Council, and promoted the development of online and offline shopping centers of the State Council, Promote the growth of consumption and upgrade the quality.

Build a stable and efficient supply chain

Due to the epidemic situation spreading in many places, this year's "618" is very special, so it is more important to build a stable and efficient supply chain. Xu Qi also frankly said that whether the logistics is smooth or not has a certain impact on "618", but on the whole, the situation will be better and better. Vipshop's relevant person in charge disclosed that in addition to the scope of the sealed and controlled areas in Shanghai, vipshop's logistics has recovered rapidly, and hundreds of thousands of orders have been sent out in recent days. After returning to normal life, Shanghai is also expected to usher in a recovery in consumption, which is also a potential positive for the e-commerce platform.

A stable and smooth supply chain means a better shopping experience. Su Jian, a professor at the school of economics of Peking University and director of the national economic research center of Peking University, said that ensuring the stability and timeliness of the supply chain has become an important factor in boosting consumption recovery, protecting people's livelihood and optimizing supply. It is an important way to promote "618" online consumption to serve the real economy, and an important means to serve the real economy.

Recently, Jingdong announced for the first time the construction results of the "weaving plan". With 43 "Asia No.1" large-scale intelligent logistics parks and about 1400 warehouses operating nationwide as the core, a highly collaborative multi-level logistics infrastructure and warehouse distribution network has been built, which not only establishes the trust between the industrial end and the consumer side, but also helps about 90% of Jingdong's self operated online orders to reach the same day and the next day, as well as 93% of the districts, counties, counties and cities in China 84% of the villages and towns achieved the same day and the next day; Through "Asia one" and other intelligent new infrastructure, the ecological effect of weaving network has also helped many enterprises realize the optimization of inventory management, the reduction of operating costs and the efficient allocation of internal resources; At the same time, it promoted the coordinated development of regional economy and the transformation of county economy, and carried out supply chain services for more than 1000 agricultural special production areas and industrial belts in China, forming a positive cycle of industrial transformation and consumption upgrading of production areas.

In "618" this year, tmall Global's cross-border bonded warehouse logistics service has been upgraded. On the basis of providing intelligent sub warehouse preparation for merchants, tmall global has added a "rookie direct delivery" warehouse distribution service, which can deliver goods from the bonded warehouse directly to consumers.

Suning e-buy logistics said that it has made sufficient preparations for the upgrading of "618" service. Based on the consistent door-to-door service throughout the country, relying on the advantages of warehouse and distribution integration, it will integrate the supply chain service capabilities, create a supply chain solution that can better adapt to the front-end retail formats for merchants, and provide high-quality logistics services for merchants and users. During this year's "618" period, Suning e-buy logistics "peace of mind" service will cover more than 300 cities in China, and the delivery and shipment can be completed within 24 hours at the earliest.

Li Yongjian believes that Jingdong and other enterprises should not only be responsible to consumers, but also provide consumers with high-quality, safe and reliable products through a digital and intelligent efficient supply chain, but also conduct in-depth cooperation with enterprises in the supply chain, making use of the capabilities of hard supply chain and soft supply chain to help enterprises improve efficiency and avoid the impact of economic downward pressure.

Ren Xingzhou also said that the overall planning of epidemic prevention and control and economic development is facing new challenges. In this context, it is urgent to innovate the operation mode of supply chain through digital, intelligent and contactless technology, promote the smooth and collaborative supply chain, and improve the efficiency of the supply chain.

"With a stable and efficient supply chain, the key is to seize the time to raise the production capacity of consumer goods and release enough supply for" 618 ". At present, there is a strong market demand for daily necessities. Enterprises should seize the opportunities of holidays and shopping festivals and strive to expand sales supply." Pan said.