Not Competing on "Lowest Price Across the Entire Network," The New Understanding of E-commerce Platforms for 618

The 618 shopping festival has been around for over a decade. As one of the two most important promotional events for e-commerce platforms each year (618 and Double 11), the performance of e-commerce platforms during the 618 period can directly reflect changes in the entire industry.

This year's 618 has several obvious characteristics. First, it is the longest 618 ever, lasting 39 days from May 13 to June 20. In addition, national subsidies are still ongoing, allowing products such as home appliances and digital goods to enjoy double discounts. Secondly, another significant feature of this year's 618 is that most platforms have started to increase support for merchants, including lowering the registration threshold for merchants and recommending new brands and products. Furthermore, live streaming sales have become one of the mainstream models for e-commerce platforms, with interest e-commerce platforms represented by Douyin continuously adjusting the format of live streaming, shifting from influencer-led broadcasts to merchant self-broadcasting.

An industry insider stated that in recent years, e-commerce platforms have "tacitly" stopped disclosing complete GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) data during major promotional periods. This is not only due to the overall decline in the popularity of promotions but also because platforms are placing more emphasis on values beyond GMV. "Promotions are just a means to stimulate consumption; sustainable operations are more suitable for today's consumer market."

From competing on price and traffic to gradually "interconnecting," the core of competition has shifted from GMV to value enhancement. As we enter an era of rational consumption, how to truly provide value to users, merchants, and supply chains, and demonstrate more scarce capabilities and resources, is a new challenge for the e-commerce industry.

JD.com: Beneficiary of National Subsidies

The 618 consumption festival originated from JD.com. JD.com was established on June 18, and for several years after the start of the 618 promotion, it has always been JD.com's "home ground." In subsequent years, platforms such as Taobao, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Kuaishou have also joined the fray.

Data released by JD.com shows that in 2025, JD.com's 618 will reach a new high, with the number of ordering users increasing by over 100% year-on-year. The overall order volume of JD Retail's online business, offline formats, and JD Delivery exceeded 2.2 billion orders. During this year's 618 period, the DAU (Daily Active Users) of the JD app reached a historical high. The scale and growth rate of the 3C and home appliance categories ranked first in the industry, and diverse formats drove a million offline store order growth, with JD's live streaming sales increasing by 285% year-on-year.

JD.com 618 Battle Report

Many e-commerce industry insiders believe that the current round of substantial national subsidies for trade-ins has the most obvious benefits for JD.com. JD.com has a mental advantage among users in categories such as electronics, digital products, and home appliances, and since JD.com mainly focuses on self-operated products, it can better connect with national subsidies. JD.com also launched the "National Subsidy × 10 Billion Subsidy" channel during this year's 618, combining policy benefits and platform discounts.

In some regions, this round of national subsidies is nearing its end. Market research firm Counterpoint Research believes that if this round of subsidies has prematurely exhausted subsequent consumer demand, the market may face a significant demand decline after the subsidy period ends, leading to a slowdown in sales growth in the second half of 2025 A new change in the e-commerce sector is that instant retail is once again being emphasized by platforms, including Alibaba, Meituan, and JD.com, which are actively laying out their strategies. This is also seen by the industry as an important supplement to the e-commerce model. One of JD.com's notable new moves is its significant entry into the food delivery industry. During this year's 618 shopping festival, JD.com also participated, and according to data disclosed by JD.com, the daily order volume for JD.com’s food delivery has surpassed 25 million orders.

According to media reports, in 2024, Douyin e-commerce's GMV is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan, ranking third in the industry. According to Goldman Sachs' global research data, during the 2024 618 period, Taotian's GMV growth rate is between 10%-15%, with a market share of 42%; JD.com has single-digit growth with a market share of 22%; Pinduoduo's growth rate is 15%-20%, with a market share of 18%; Douyin's growth rate exceeds 20%, with a market share of 15%.

JD.com faces fierce competition in the e-commerce sector from Pinduoduo and Douyin e-commerce, and it needs to find new breakthroughs in the large e-commerce field. In 2024, JD.com has listed "instant retail" as a "must-win battle," which is also seen by the industry as a proactive move to safeguard its core business.

Taotian: Maintaining the Basic Market

During this year's 618, Alibaba Group's Taotian (Taobao and Tmall) platform still maintained its position as the industry leader. As of June 18 at 24:00, 453 brands on Tmall achieved transaction amounts exceeding 100 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24%.

Tmall President Liu Bo recently stated in a media interview that the GMV of Tmall, after excluding refunds during the entire 618 period, grew by 10% year-on-year, and the number of purchasing users on the platform achieved double-digit growth, "the actual sales have indeed increased."

Public data shows that Tmall has over 100,000 active merchants, with the top 1% of brand merchants contributing 30%-40% of the GMV. In official releases, the growth situation of Taobao, as part of Taotian's basic market, was not mentioned.

Tmall 618 Battle Report

During this 618 period, Taotian made many changes. For example, it was the first time that the transaction amount after excluding refunds and other interference factors, referred to as "real transaction increment," was used as the core indicator for traffic support, and supporting quality original merchants was listed as a strategic goal.

Additionally, the promotion rules were simplified—from the previous year's order combination discount to a direct discount; at the same time, the merchant registration process was also simplified, allowing for participation in individual products or a category of products in bulk, with the ability to adjust at any time during the process.

In recent years, there have been frequent criticisms in public opinion regarding the complex rules of Taotian's promotions, with some consumers joking that "the promotion seems like a math exam."

Especially during last year's Double 11 period, the news that "American clothing brand Ralph Lauren had a return rate of 95%, becoming a tool for order combination" trended on social media. Many consumers mentioned that in order to reach the discount thresholds of 7,000 yuan or 3,000 yuan, they would add high-value items to their cart and then return them. In response, Tmall previously stated that the high return rate was "nonsense." This year, after canceling the order combination discount, the GMV from combining orders for discounts and then returning items was also eliminated However, although the simplified promotion rules benefit consumers, there are still some controversies on the merchant side. Media reports indicate that during the 618 shopping festival, a Taobao merchant engaged in cross-border business in Guangdong claimed that a single order of 184 yuan was charged 26 platform service fees, including fees for Taobao coins software services, public welfare donations, and basic cross-border service fees for Taobao and Tmall.

During the promotion period, Taobao actively enhanced merchant rights. For example, at the beginning of 618, the platform launched a feature to block high return rate groups specifically for the apparel industry. On June 11, Taobao announced that its merchant data team had launched refund analysis, providing data analysis capabilities at the store and product levels, supporting merchants in formulating operational strategies to recover losses from refunds through pre-warning, monitoring during the return process, tracking post-return behavior, and identifying reasons, while also supporting the exploration of operational opportunities in refunding groups.

The feature to block high return rate groups has also sparked some controversy. Wang Hongliang, a professor at Tsinghua University's Law School and director of the Electronic Commerce Law Research Center, analyzed in a written piece that this feature could address the high return rate issue in the apparel industry. It allows merchants in the apparel sector to set up blocking groups on customized promotion pages, enabling them to completely block high refund groups and abnormal refund groups or reduce exposure to groups with higher refund rates.

However, Wang also pointed out that this feature "may inadvertently harm normal consumers, especially those who try on clothes multiple times due to style or size reasons." Additionally, this feature may hinder consumers' exercise of the "no-reason return right." According to relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, online shopping consumers have the right to return goods without reason within seven days of receiving them. Once the "high refund group blocking" feature is activated, the platform may automatically identify consumers who frequently exercise their "no-reason return right" as high refund groups, thereby reducing their information access or even blocking them, which undoubtedly punishes consumers who legally exercise their "no-reason return right."

From Alibaba's recent financial report, Taobao Group's revenue growth rate for fiscal year 2025 is about 3%, and growth continues. According to data from Zheshang Securities, Taobao's market share has decreased from 51.3% in 2021 to 37.3% in 2024, while the market shares of Pinduoduo, Douyin e-commerce, and Kuaishou e-commerce have all increased.

Joseph Tsai, chairman of Alibaba Group, mentioned at a forum held in Singapore in March this year that "e-commerce is the most competitive industry in the world." As the industry's "big brother," how Taobao seeks new growth space while maintaining market share and balancing the interests of brand merchants and small and medium-sized businesses amidst multiple challenges is indeed a difficult "mathematical problem."

Douyin: Store Broadcasting Becomes Mainstream

Live-streaming e-commerce is one of the fastest-growing innovative business models in recent years. According to research by experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the scale of live-streaming e-commerce accounts for nearly one-third of online retail sales, contributing 80% of the incremental growth in e-commerce. Douyin e-commerce, as one of the main platforms in this sector, has surpassed a 20% market share. In major promotional categories such as durable goods, beauty, and fresh produce, Douyin e-commerce also achieved impressive results during 618. Official data shows that over 60,000 brands saw their transaction volume double year-on-year, and 67,000 small and medium-sized merchants surpassed one million yuan in transaction volume, presenting a diverse growth trend in the overall consumption ecosystem

Douyin E-commerce 618 Data Report

It is worth mentioning that many of the best-selling products were "exploded" through short videos and live streaming content.

Every year from May to June is the harvest season for lychees, coinciding with the 618 shopping festival. According to Douyin data, from May 13 to June 18, the transaction volume of Maoming lychees on the platform increased by 589% year-on-year. Maoming blogger Chen Lirong's short video content recommends local agricultural products using "Cantonese English." On May 20, she posted a video introducing Maoming lychees in English, which has now received over 200,000 likes. In the lychee orchards and production workshops in Maoming, many hosts are also live streaming to sell products. From picking, sorting, and packaging to final delivery, the hosts showcase the entire process of a lychee "from field to market" to consumers through the screen.

This year, during the 618 shopping festival, Douyin continued the "instant discount on one item" promotion, offering a direct 15% discount and investing billions in consumer vouchers. Some merchants reported that this year, Douyin is one of the platforms with the largest subsidy efforts; for products priced over 50 yuan in their stores, they received about 30 yuan in subsidies.

The advantage of Douyin E-commerce lies in its content and traffic. However, the model of live streaming and content-driven sales has also led some merchants to become overly reliant on paid traffic and spending heavily to invite influencers for sales.

This year, during the 618 shopping festival, the influence of top Douyin E-commerce influencers has relatively weakened, with more brand merchants choosing to start their own broadcasts. In fact, this change did not happen overnight: Douyin E-commerce began laying out the store broadcasting model several years ago. Official data shows that from February 2024 to January 2025, among merchants earning income through live streaming, those using store broadcasting accounted for 69%, far exceeding the proportion of influencer live streaming. During the 618 shopping festival, the contribution of store broadcasting was also significant: 50% of the live streaming transaction volume came from store broadcasts, and nearly 70% of merchants with live streaming transaction volumes exceeding 10 million yuan adopted the store broadcasting model.

Since January of this year, Douyin has also introduced multiple preferential policies for merchants, including commission waivers and refunds, improving rule transparency and merchant complaint efficiency, encouraging more merchants to try store broadcasting.

However, some merchants mentioned that store broadcasting is also a challenge for smaller brands. In the past, merchants only needed to pay commissions to invite influencers for live streaming, but now they have to handle everything themselves, including the live streaming room, equipment, hosts, and content. "Live streaming sales is a very professional task, and there are inherent barriers," they noted. "Especially for brands with low recognition, opening a live streaming room will hardly attract viewers. It’s better to first promote well-known influencers, and once they have a certain scale, then start self-broadcasting."

Some consumers of live streaming e-commerce believe that store self-broadcasting feels more trustworthy. "Brands are generally more trustworthy to consumers than influencers, and shopping in a brand's live streaming room eliminates worries about counterfeit products."

In fact, the transition from influencer broadcasting cooling down to store broadcasting becoming mainstream is an inevitable process of reconstructing the live streaming ecosystem. Influencer live streaming can quickly gain traction during the platform's traffic dividend period, but the problems are also evident; as traffic peaks, the commission cuts taken by influencers may erode brand profits The UE model (Unit Economic Model) for store broadcasting is healthier, allowing merchants to directly reach users, build their own traffic pools, and strengthen user loyalty.

However, store broadcasting also tests the accumulation of operations over time. If we look further ahead, live streaming will become infrastructure, with platforms shifting from traffic distribution to ecosystem service providers, while the competitive focus among merchants will return to the contest of brand power and user relationships.

Pinduoduo: Continuing to Sacrifice Profits

Pinduoduo was once the largest competitor to traditional e-commerce platforms. In 2010, Pinduoduo had a market share of about 10%, while Taobao and JD.com together accounted for about 85% of the market share. By 2023, Pinduoduo's market share had risen to about 18.3%, surpassing JD.com (17.2%). In 2024, Pinduoduo's market share is expected to rise to about 24%, further narrowing the gap with Taobao (about 38%).

Pinduoduo has not had a strong presence during various major promotional events, consistently implementing the "100 Billion Subsidy" strategy, which has allowed it to maintain a psychological price advantage among consumers.

This year during the 618 shopping festival, Pinduoduo also canceled the requirement for "the lowest price on the entire network," implementing a "same model, same price" policy while strengthening consumer rights protection measures, requiring all marked products to provide "price drop compensation" services. Pinduoduo is actively guiding merchants to focus more on product quality and user service. Additionally, the prices of products sold during promotional periods will not be counted as "historical lowest prices," avoiding impacts on merchants' subsequent pricing strategies.

According to a person in charge of Pinduoduo's 100 Billion Subsidy program, during the promotional period, agricultural product merchants and new quality merchants participating in multiple activities of the 100 Billion Subsidy achieved a year-on-year doubling in growth, with the "Super Double Subsidy" activity exceeding 3.76 million orders in a single day, helping many small and medium-sized merchants achieve new breakthroughs in various categories.

Compared to the promotional events, Pinduoduo has attracted more attention due to a 47% drop in net profit in the first quarter of this year, with revenue growth also showing a significant slowdown. Pinduoduo explained in its financial report that this was due to the platform increasing subsidies to merchants, with a plan to launch a trillion yuan support strategy in 2025 based on the previous 100 billion yuan reduction.

Moreover, most merchants on the Pinduoduo platform are third-party merchants and do not enjoy the national subsidy benefits like those on JD.com and Tmall, so Pinduoduo needs to maintain price competitiveness through platform subsidies.

Post-GMV Era, Low Prices Are Not the Solution

From JD.com’s initial launch of the 618 online shopping festival to the multi-platform "battle," the 618 promotional event has become an industry symbol and is undoubtedly a "mid-year consumption engine." This year, various platforms have canceled complex rules and extended the promotional period, indicating that industry competition remains fierce.

Even so, the enthusiasm for this year's 618 is still not high. On one hand, consumer enthusiasm for major promotions has decreased; despite major platforms simplifying discount policies, many consumers have become "desensitized" to the promotions and discounts that occur almost every month According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to May this year, the national online retail sales reached 6.0402 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. The data for the same period last year was 12.4%, indicating a decline in growth rate. This means that short-term promotions like 618 have become increasingly important for e-commerce platforms to boost sales.

Many industry insiders have mentioned that the node-based e-commerce promotion model has entered a "mid-life crisis"—from users to merchants to platforms, there is a decline in enthusiasm for promotions to varying degrees.

In the current climate where consumers are becoming more rational, there is a need for more refined content to drive consumer sentiment. This not only requires platforms to have a content ecosystem and quality content but also tests the platforms' understanding of user needs, specifically how to provide a rich selection of quality goods tailored to consumers with different preferences.

The 618 promotion in 2025 can be seen as the beginning of the "post-GMV era" for China's e-commerce industry: the value of user operations surpasses traffic and scale, ecological collaboration replaces solo efforts, and technological efficiency trumps price competition... The future of e-commerce is not about "lower prices," but rather deeper user operations, more efficient technological acceleration, a more flexible and agile supply chain system, and new growth brought by a global market.

In other words, when technology democratizes access to AI for small and medium-sized merchants, when supply chain response times are measured in minutes, and when consumption moves away from "holiday rituals" back to everyday rationality—only then can e-commerce promotions smoothly navigate the "mid-life crisis" and enter the next cycle.

Author: Shi Ran, Source: Caijing Magazine, Original Title: "Not Competing on 'Lowest Prices Across the Internet,' The New Understanding of E-commerce Platforms for 618"

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