Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
As the 2025 Double 11 approaches, competition among e-commerce platforms is intensifying. This year’s promotion cycle is longer than ever, setting a new record of 38 days, which undoubtedly brings more shopping choices and opportunities for consumers. However, behind this trend lie challenges and opportunities for the e-commerce industry.
Major Platform Strategies: Diverse Gameplays
JD.com: 38-Day Precise Cycle
Starting from October 9, JD.com kicked off Double 11 with its Early Purchase Event. Consumers can pre-select desired products during the warm-up period, followed by the Kickoff Period from October 31 to November 3 (with multiple special events), and finally the Return Period until November 14. The entire process is meticulously designed to attract consumers at every stage.
Taobao/Tmall: Phased User Experience Enhancement
Taobao/Tmall adopted a different strategy: starting with the warm-up on October 11, pre-sale on October 20, and spot sales until November 14. This phased approach aims to enhance user shopping experience, allowing consumers to enjoy different shopping pleasures at various nodes and form a good consumption atmosphere.
Pinduoduo: Instant Spot Sales
Pinduoduo focuses on spot sales, emphasizing immediacy to attract consumers in urgent need of purchases.
Douyin & Kuaishou: Live Streaming Advantages
Relying on their short video platform strengths, Douyin and Kuaishou launched multiple live streaming events from October 9 to November 11. Consumers can get discounts through interactive live streams, creating a unique consumption experience.
Xiaohongshu: Community-Driven Consumption
Xiaohongshu’s activities started on October 11, leveraging the community to attract users to share shopping experiences and promote consumption.
Market Warning: Declining Sales & Changing Habits
Despite the extended promotion period, Double 11’s single-day sales have shown a downward trend in recent years. The 2025 transaction growth rate was 52.7% year-on-year, while it plummeted to -9.7% in 2023. Since 2020, the number of packages has also dropped by nearly 1 billion, warning e-commerce platforms about sustainable development.
This reflects changes in consumer habits: more people pursue quality over quantity. E-commerce platforms need to re-examine their operational strategies—how to enhance user experience during promotions has become an urgent issue. In this challenging era, platforms should focus not only on sales but also on user needs and experience for long-term sustainable development.
Conclusion: Adapting to Trends for Long-Term Success
In summary, the 2025 Double 11 showcases diverse strategies of e-commerce platforms in a competitive market. Facing changes in the consumer market, major platforms must keep up with the times, explore new business models to meet consumer needs, and stand firm in future competition.