Shoppers were treated to deep discounts, new products, and payment plans as online merchants sought to revive their sluggish appetite for spending during China's first major online shopping festival after the end of zero-COVID policies. For the first time, e-commerce retailer JD.com did not release the results of its 618 shopping festival, which ended Sunday, making it hard to know just how much was spent. A bigger shopping festival, Single's Day, held on Nov. 11 each year, rakes in billions of dollars. Analysts said most consumers have become more price-conscious and reluctant to spend given the sluggish economy, the AP reports.
"Chinese consumer confidence remains weak due to a mix of geopolitics, continued weakness from COVID-19, and domestic Chinese politics," said Shaun Rein of the China Market Research Group in Shanghai. Rein said that overall, consumers likely spent less during 618 as online retailers already were discounting heavily because of the pandemic, so the deals offered were not much of an improvement. Retail sales—a key indicator of consumption—missed growth forecasts in May, increasing 12.7% from a year earlier and slowing from an 18.4% jump in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
China's leaders have for years been trying to shift the economy from one driven by construction and other investments to one fueled by the consumer spending that is the lifeblood of the US and other advanced economies, per the AP. But with the recovery from disruptions due to the pandemic already faltering, shoppers have yet to resume spending as freely as in the past. To entice customers and boost spending, e-commerce platforms have been investing billions of yuan in incentives and subsidies for customers and merchants alike. Early results showed strong sales of high-end brands such as Bulgari and Celine.
(More
Chinese economy stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
