A Wrap-Up of JD.com's 618 Festival

How did this year's 618 festival turn out? We review the numbers

by Ker Zheng

This year's 618 Festival saw JD.com gross merchandise value grow 27% YoY to reach $29.2 billion, a new record. The 618 Festival occurs over the 18-day period leading up to June 18th and customers had the opportunity to enjoy all sorts of promotions and discounts. 

Some new trends were:

1. Growing participation from customers in lower-tier cities. JD executives say that they've seen particularly strong growth in tier 5 and 6 cities. 

2.  Consumer-to-manufacturer e-commerce, in which JD.com provides data to manufacturers so that they can better optimize their products and product selections to cater to certain customers. C2M product sales increased 289% over those of last year, and one out of every three monitors sold were C2M products

3. More fashion brands are selling on JD.com. Prada, Miu Miu, and Car Shoe have launched stores on the platform, as well as global luxury platform Farfetch. 

4. Technology is playing a bigger role. JD's logistics & fulfillment centers are getting smarter, with 91% of orders being delivered either on the same day or the next day. JD's smart customer service robot dealt with over 32 million inquiries over the 618 period, resolving 90% of issues without human intervention. 

Some other highlights:

   -   Consumer goods: 350mn boxes of milk sold, and over 10mn tins of milk powder sold. JD.com sold 72mn cars of beer

   -   Fresh food: JD.com sold over 6,700 tons of imported fresh food, including cherries, codfish, shrimp, and avocados

   -   Consumer electronics: 3C products (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) racked up 201.5 billion RMB in sales. JD.com sold over 500mn RMB of mobile phones in just six minutes. Total mobile phone sales doubled over that of last year, and top sellers were Vivo, One Plus, and Oppo

   -   Home appliances: JD.com sold over 1 billion RMB of home appliances in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Over 100 million RMB of air conditioners were sold in 7 seconds and over 400 million RMB of refrigerators and washing machines were sold in just 2 minutes

One interesting campaign is JD.com's livestreaming promotion to provide customized consumer-to-manufacturer beauty sets for different users. Consumers pick their favorite Chinese legend, and can view a livestreaming session where consumers comment on videos that present different items for display. They can then click on a button that takes them to a purchase page once they find something they like. 

jd 618 1.jpgjd 618 2.jpgjd 618 4.jpg

Click here for our article on social commerce, video e-commerce, and omnichannel retail trends during the 618 festival. 

JD.com

Cross-Border E-Commerce Sales Channels for China

This 20-page guide tells you what you need to know about brand websites, Tmall, JD.com, Kaola, and more

download now!