BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — Planning to bring home a feline friend but unsure what supplies to stock up on during the annual shopping festival? This year, simply typing your needs in the search box and the AI-empowered search will generate complete shopping guides within seconds, covering everything from cat food and bowls to toys, tips and reviews.
Similar scenario unfolding in China’s ongoing “Double 11” shopping festival signals evolving shopping experience and consumption trends in the country’s consumer market.
SMARTER SHOPPING
With an “AI housekeeper” crafting promotional strategies, an “AI assistant” providing product images and videos, and intelligent customer service enhancing both quality and efficiency, AI is making the shopping experience smarter and more seamless for merchants and consumers alike.
During this year’s “Double 11” shopping event, the use of AI by the platforms has revamped the shopping experience, guiding buyers toward items they genuinely need rather than simply chasing discounts.
For instance, Alibaba’s Taobao uses “AI universal search” to generate guides — such as for raising a cat — handling nearly 50 million consumer inquiries, while its “AI List” has delivered around 2 million personalized product recommendations.
Meanwhile, JD.com’s intelligent customer service, “Jingxiaozhi 5.0,” has boosted the efficiency of buyer consultations.
Industry insiders say that advances in AI’s product understanding have shifted merchants’ promotion strategies from pushing bestsellers to matching products with precise consumer demand, allowing small and medium-sized merchants to still gain visibility.
INSTANT RETAIL
After placing an order for a computer from a Suning.com store through China’s online life service provider Meituan, a buyer surnamed Li in Quanjiao County, east China’s Anhui Province, received the product within less than two hours.
Li’s experience highlights how instant retail has emerged as a key feature of this year’s “Double 11” shopping bonanza.
With deliveries taking as little as half an hour, instant retail is a model in which shoppers place orders through online platforms, and retailers — either directly from brick-and-mortar stores or via third-party delivery services — fulfil them with door-to-door delivery.
During this year’s “Double 11” shopping festival, more than 30,000 brands and 400,000 stores across the country participated in Taobao Flash Sales, Alibaba’s instant retail service, spanning industries from catering to home furnishing.
According to Mercury Home Textiles, a leading home textile manufacturer, its 50 stores have seen sales increase ninefold month-on-month since the start of “Double 11” after joining Taobao Flash Sales.
Instant retail effectively integrates online and offline resources, enabling cooperation between platforms and retailers to achieve greater impact, said Pei Liang, head of the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association.
By connecting supply chains, brick-and-mortar stores and local delivery networks, e-commerce platforms are injecting new vitality into the retail industry, Pei added.
RATIONAL CONSUMPTION
Launched 17 years ago by Alibaba on Nov. 11, the “Double 11” shopping spree has been traditionally marked by big discounts offered by merchants and e-commerce platforms.
This year, however, the shopping festival has witnessed a shift from crazy shopping spurred by discounts to rational consumption among consumers.
The shopping festival returned as an extended event this year, with major e-commerce platforms offering promotions for an average of more than 30 days.
“Considering the long promotion period, I don’t have to struggle to meet the minimum purchase amount for discounts. Instead, I can take my time to choose what I really need,” said a consumer surnamed Zhao from Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province.
Similar changes are evident in livestreaming salesrooms, where the aggressive “huckster-style” marketing has declined. Instead, more merchants are highlighting third-party inspection reports, showcasing production workshops live, and providing traceability of raw materials.
“We no longer focus on promoting low-cost products to attract consumers. Instead, we concentrate on core products with technological barriers,” said Wu Rufan, a Tmall livestreaming salesperson of Jomoo, a kitchen and bathroom fittings brand.
During this year’s “Double 11” shopping festival, Wu said they invited product R&D managers to provide in-depth explanations of the technologies and functions of products in Jomoo’s Tmall livestreaming room.
People are increasingly approaching “Double 11” with a more balanced mindset, noted Li Mingtao, an e-commerce expert, adding that this shift reflects consumers moving from price sensitivity toward quality-focused and rational purchasing. ■
