Staff members sort and unload packages at a big logistics company in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province on October 19, 2023. Multiple local express companies have been stepping up efforts to prepare for the upcoming Double 11 online shopping carnival to be held on November 11. Photo: cnsphoto

China's e-commerce platforms, which have kicked off the "Double 11" shopping festival, one of the country's most important online sprees, reported notable increases in sales, as these platforms strive to provide low-priced but quality goods to stimulate consumer spending and boost sales growth.

Analysts said on Tuesday that the shopping extravaganza, along with the coming of the peak consumption season in the fourth quarter, will continue to boost sustainable consumption and contribute to achieving the country's annual GDP growth rate target of around 5 percent. They said the Chinese economy is still on the right track of recovery and will provide new momentum for global economic growth.

Data from Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com showed that on its first day of this year's "Double 11" shopping spree, the number of users and transactions both quadrupled year-on-year in the first 10 minutes as the platform kicked off the promotion event at 8 pm Monday.

Sales of iPhones and models offered by Xiaomi, Honor, Huawei and OPPO exceeded 100 million yuan ($13.69 million) each in just one second, according to JD.com.

On the global site of JD.com, sales of over 280 kinds of imported goods more than doubled year-on-year in the first 10 minutes, with sales of imported babycare products surging more than 43 times, according to the platform.

"Double 11," also known as Singles' Day, was once a one-day online shopping festival that fell on November 11 each year in China, but the event has been extended to several weeks this year and every e-commerce platform has its own promotions.

Another major market player, Tmall, launched promotions at 8 pm on Tuesday, which are expected to attract about 1 billion consumers. Prices of more than 80 million popular products will be the lowest this year, domestic news site ceweekly.cn reported.

Pinduoduo, an e-commerce platform known for its low-price products in China, kicked off its shopping spree on Friday, providing sizable discounts to attract consumers. For example, the price of the iPhone 15 Pro sold on the platform during "Double 11" can be 2,000 yuan lower than Apple's retail price, according to a press release sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

"Compared with previous 'Double 11' shopping festivals, e-commerce platforms are stressing low prices this year by directly offering discounts and coupons. They are also emphasizing quality services and empowering smaller merchants by helping them achieve digital operations," Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Zhang said that this year's event may achieve record sales revenue on the back of the strong consumption recovery momentum, especially upgrading of demand.

A Beijing-based 35-year-old white-collar worker named Liu Jie told the Global Times on Tuesday that she spent about 10,000 yuan so far during this shopping spree, mainly on babycare products, health supplements, home appliances and other goods. "Prices are lower than usual and I already got several parcels this morning," she said.

After over a decade of development, China's "Double 11" shopping festival has become a global shopping event and its overseas spillover effect continues to be unleashed.

Ozon Holdings, one of the first e-commerce companies in Russia, told the Global Times on Tuesday that it started promotions worth tens of billions of rubles (1 ruble is about $0.011) during the annual shopping extravaganza in China in a bid to help vendors' sales during the peak season increase by more than four times year-on-year.

This year's "Double 11" has added significance as it comes amid the country's intensified efforts to ensure a steady economic recovery. The Chinese authorities issued 20 measures in July to boost domestic demand, including support for expanding real estate and auto sales.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales rose 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year. Final consumption expenditures contributed 94.8 percent to GDP growth in the third quarter.

"The sound operation of the consumption sector shows that domestic consumers maintain bright expectations for the long-term development of China's economy, which is well on track to achieve its annual GDP growth target," Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times.

As the fourth quarter is traditionally a spending peak season, consumption is expected to further recover for the rest of the year, Cao said, noting that GDP growth is expected to reach 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

However, analysts said that China's economic recovery still faces challenges and difficulties, especially as the Cold War mentality of the US and its protectionism would have a negative impact on China's exports.

Next year will be crucial for China's economic development, and it's hoped that policies will be rolled out to deal with the challenges, Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times.

In the short term, efforts should be made to address insufficient effective demand, Zhang said. In the four quarter and next year, government agencies could implement some of the 102 major projects of the 14th Five-year Plan (2021-25) in a bid to stabilize investment, he said.

China's continuous technology, institutional and cultural innovations will build a sound foundation for the high-quality development of the economy, according to Zhang.