Double 12, which literally means December 12, is an online shopping event which was started by Alibaba to promote its Taobao marketplace. Many other e-commerce platforms also joined the event since it started, including JD.com and Pinduoduo.

Taobao Had Over 100 Million Consumers Shopped During the Double 12 Event

During this year’s Taobao Double 12 event, which ran from December 1–11, over 100 million customers took part, ordering an average of more than 15 items per person, according to Ebrun. Millennials were the main consumers, and they bought an average of 28 items per person. Consumer participation among people born between the 1960s and 1970s grew 85% over 2017, and each bought 11 items on average. The top five cities in terms of purchase volumes were Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Chengdu. State Post Bureau data show postal and express delivery firms delivered 322 million pieces of fast mail during the Double 12 sale period, an increase of 32.5% year over year and a record high for the period. Although impressive, these numbers pale in comparison to the Singles’ Day sale on 11.11, when some 1.8 billion pieces of fast mail were delivered. Over 70 million consumers added more than two winter items to their Taobao shopping carts, including regular warm clothing products, such as down coats, scarves, and thermal underwear bottoms, according to Taobao. Snowball clips and snowball launcher sales grew 80%, mainly from customers in the north which has colder weather. More than three million customers bought humidifiers and purifiers. Customers in the south bought items such as mobile phone stands (around three million units), and 20% of them bought heated socks and hand warmers. Insoles to keep the feet warm sold five million units.

Merchants Offer Attractive Promotions on Tmall

Merchants on Tmall also joined the Double 12 event with attractive promotions. US grocery retailer Kroger offered ¥10 vouchers to attract new customers. Kroger also offered incentives to encourage consumers to shop more: For just ¥1, customers could buy vouchers worth ¥200 off orders above ¥399.

Source: Tmall/Coresight Research

Kroger’s Double 12 promotion on Tmall Source: Tmall

Alibaba’s Travel Service Platform, Fliggy, Provides Huge Discounts

Fliggy offered customers the chance to win vouchers worth ¥20–200 when booking tourist destinations, hotel and overseas travel packages. Consumers could also book plane tickets within China for ¥15, plane tickets to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for ¥35. Customers could also enter a lucky draw when they logged onto the Fliggy website.

Fligyy’s Double 12 Promotion Source: Fliggy

Double 12 Promotions in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms, such as Lazada, Zalora and Shopee, also joined Double 12 sales.

Lazada offered over one million promotions

• Lazada offered discounts of as much as 80% off electronics, household appliances, home and daily essentials, fashion sports and lifestyle. Participating brands included The Body Shop, Innisfree, WMF, Philips Avent, BENQ, Hershel, Samsung, Sony, Acer, Marshall and Fitbit.
• There were also special offers of up to 20% off beauty brands’ stores such as Garnier, L’Oreal, VICHY, SkinCeauticals and Maybelline.

Double 12 Promotions on Lazada Source: Lazada

Zalora

• Limited-time-only vouchers for 40% off across the company’s private label Zalora, and London Rag.
• Brands on sale included GAP, MANGO, Casio, Hush Puppies, Trussardi, and Super Dry.

Shopee

• Flash deals from S$1.20, vouchers up to S$120
• The platform featured different themes each day of its sale.

Source: Shopee

Key Takeaways

The Double 12 event was not nearly as huge as the Double 11 Singles’ Day extravaganza. We believe the lower pace of sales was partly due to the massive level of consumer spending just one month before. There were discounts and promotions across categories on e-commerce platforms, especially those within Alibaba’s network. Ebrun reported that over 100 million customers bought more than 15 items each on Taobao. Merchants on Tmall offered incentives to encourage customers to shop more. Travel service platform Fliggy offered attractive travel packages. Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms, such as Lazada and Shopee, also got in on the action, offering sizable discounts.