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 December 11. Photo: cnsphoto

China's "Double 11" shopping festival is more than halfway through, and major platforms have reported outstanding performances. In addition to traditional brands drawing a substantial number of orders, new trend categories have also witnessed growing sales, indicating resilience of Chinese consumption, experts said on Sunday.

In the first week of the shopping spree, JD.com saw numerous brands and merchants report breaking sales records, with up to 15,000 brands experiencing transaction volume growth of more than five times compared with last year, and some new categories saw explosion in sales, according to data from JD.com.

Among the new trend categories, gaming laptops, foldable screen smartphones, over-ear headphones and high-capacity mobile power banks saw transaction volumes more than triple from last year's festival. 

The transaction volume of 3D printers surged by more than 10 times, and smart wearables recorded transaction volume growth of more than 150 percent.

Alibaba's Tmall also got off to a strong start, with the first phase of sales revealing many "dark horses," as 420 emerging brands gained in consumer popularity, the platform said.

For instance, new brand XREAL, which focuses on wearable Augmented Reality (AR) devices, has become a dark horse in the extended reality (XR) equipment industry. SenseRobot won the first place in the category of chess robot.

The phenomenon of new brands seeing sales surge is driven by the rapid growth of emerging industries and consumer trends, including esports, cycling, skiing, XR and others. 

And, consumers are embracing the "self-enjoyment" trend, footing the bill for their pleasures, the platform said.

A Beijing resident surnamed Liao told the Global Times on Sunday that, as part of her long shopping list, she bought a wireless floor cleaner, a semi-automatic coffee machine and a pair of over-ear headphones.

"I've been tracing these items for a while. While they may not be life necessities, they all contribute to an improved quality of life and offer us new tech experiences," she said.

During the current shopping festival, Liao has placed orders in three separate batches and has already received nearly 30 packages, with 30 more "on the way."

According to data monitored by the State Post Bureau on Sunday, the total number of parcels collected nationwide reached 2.027 billion from November 1-4, a year-on-year increase of 16.1 percent and a month-on-month increase of 31 percent.

As the generation-Z youth enter the workforce, they are starting to drive new consumer trends. This Double 11 consumption of new hot-sale categories underscored this trend, Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The strong consumer demand is partly owing to the recent introduction of consumption-boosting measures by the government, Zhang said.

"In the battle to attract more consumers, businesses can no longer afford to adopt the wait-and-see strategy. They must actively devise plans to attract consumers, especially the younger demographic," Zhang said, noting that the consumption recovery in China this year has been robust, as shown during the Golden Week holidays in early October.

The recovery is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, bolstered by the three major consumption peaks - the Golden Week, the ongoing Double 11 and the upcoming New Year's Day, Zhang said.