Three, two, one! The final guide for the Double 11 shopping festival
"Have you paid your weikuan (balance)?" This have been the new greeting in Shanghai this week with the Double 11 shopping festival approaching.
This year marks the largest Double 11 fest to date with a record 290,000 brands participating. Double 11 in 2021 once again has two sales periods – first was from November 1 to 3, and the second will be on November 11, the day of the main event.
Advertisements for the Double 11 can be seen everywhere in the city. Fiona Li is posed in front of a large display in HKRI Taikoo Hui on Nanjing Road W.
What to know about the Tmall Double 11 pre-sale and livestreaming
At 8pm on October 20, Tmall Double 11 officially began preliminary sales. This year, Tmall is offering discounts on 14 million products, including over 1,000 brands available at half of their original prices.
The Double 11 paradigm is shifting to livestreaming. This year's Taobao Live features 700 leading key opinion leaders, celebrities and brand representatives in livestreaming sessions, including the top two hosts, Li Jiaqi and Viya. If you want to get the biggest discounts, you better purchase during the livestreaming.
All it takes is just a click to buy? No, you must watch the livestream, wait for three or four or even eight hours, acquire different kinds of coupons, and purchase the item immediately when the host counts down, or the discounted items will be sold out within one minute.
This year, the Double 11 made records for the most products sold, the largest number of viewers and the highest sales volume on the first day.
According to Taobao livestreaming data, Li Jiaqi listed 439 products on the evening of October 20. The cumulative transaction value in the live broadcast room was as high as 11.5 billion yuan (US$1.80 billion).
In addition, the maximum sales volume of a single product was about 1.88 million, the maximum sales value of a single product was 389 million yuan, and the average customer purchase was 306 yuan.
Another top influencer, Viya, started livestreaming at noon on October 20, with a total duration of 14 hours and 28 minutes. Total sales reached 8.53 billion yuan and the average customer purchase was 317 yuan.
There are 499 products listed, the maximum sales volume of a single product is 605,600, and the maximum sales value of a single product is 490 million yuan.
As one of Li Jiaqi's Double 11 livestreams, a supply of 20,000 cans of Afghan pine nuts were sold out during the livestreaming hosted by Li and CCTV reporter Wang Bingbing on November 6 during the 4th China International Import Expo.
There was something magical when watching the livestreaming. The host puts a product on the desk, tells you the original price, then puts complimentary gifts one by one beside it, and finally shouts out the discounted price.
And their verbal tricks – when Li shouted out "all the girls, you need it," or as Viya shouted "buy now, it is selling out," I just felt there was a voice inside my heart, "buy it, otherwise you'll miss out."
Because of this, I once bought 37 kilograms of laundry detergent in one order, which will take five years to finish. I didn't realize the issue until I received it.
There are also a lot of tricks in the pre-sale period in which you need to put a deposit down, then the deposit will double its value on the day of the main event. If you don't pay the balance in time, the deposit cannot be refunded.
It is officially said to be the biggest discount during the whole Double 11 period, but the prices include the complimentary gifts, and most of the gifts are something you don't need, such as a luxury bag for a toothbrush or lipstick in a strange color.
The thing that disappointed me most was the complimentary gifts changing to a better kind of gift on the day of the main event while the price is the same as the pre-sale price.
As a useful tip, there are ways around this. Pay the balance, then apply for refund before delivery, and the deposit will be refunded.
The best price always appears at the first hour of the day of the main event, November 11.
An additional discount will appear during the first hour. For example, I've noticed in the past a 50 percent additional discount at Puma's Tmall flagship shop.
Play interactive games to get red envelopes
The "cats game" is back again. This year, the "Cat Candy" game is debuting instead of the "Super Star Show Cat Group" of 2020. The game looks like Parcheesi. Throw the dice to move pieces on the board. Each grid represents a red envelope, and the one with more points can occupy the competitors' spaces. There is a total of 2 billion red envelopes.
Invite one friend to get one additional chance to play. The game has already gone viral.
The "Cat Candy" game
In addition, Taobao has rolled out a new feature for users to share their "shopping cart" items with friends and family, creating a more social shopping experience.
It will be more convenient to share favorite items with friends instead of sending a litany of hyperlinks.
Leading KOLs and celebrities are invited to share their shopping carts, each with a tag such as "makeup blogger" or "foodie." You can just follow them to add the list to your cart.
For the elderly, the Taobao app introduced a "senior mode." It offers voice-assisted technology, simplified navigation, larger font size and icons. The app's homepage also offers games for the elder users to unlock special discounts for groceries, making the experience more engaging for the silver generation.
