Photo: VCG

 Chinese e-commerce platforms are shining a spotlight on domestic brands as the annual “618” shopping festival approaches. The number of buyers for Chinese brands has increased more notably than for international brands, showing Chinese people’s strong support for domestic brands, particularly after some Western brands angered local consumers by boycotting Xinjiang cotton. 

“Upgrading and expanding the domestic market to attract consumption from overseas back to China is the biggest trend for this year’s 618 shopping festival,” Ling Chenkai, vice president of JD.com, said at a press conference on Thursday. 

The number of users of Chinese brands has increased compared to users of international brands since 2020, according to data from JD Big Data Research Institute, and seven out of the top 10 searched brands on JD.com are Chinese brands. 

Foreign brands’ boycott of Xinjiang cotton has had some impact on international brands, Shen Ya, Vipshop's co-founder, chairman and CEO, was quoted as saying at an earnings call on Wednesday after Vipshop published its financial report for the first quarter of 2021. Shen said that the search volume for domestic brands on Vipshop has soared and the sales of Chinese brands have increased, the paper.cn reported on Wednesday.  

Chinese domestic brands will take some market share from international brands in the long-term, but the proportion is hard to predict, Shen said. 

Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform organized a shopping festival on May 10 specifically dedicated to Chinese domestic brands, which was reportedly the biggest promotion for Chinese domestic brands after Tmall’s 618 festival and the Double Eleven shopping festival. 

Global Times