SHENZHEN recorded relatively strong online retail sales during this year’s 618 shopping festival as consumers snapped up billions worth of items amid deep discounts by merchants and e-commerce platforms.

The southern China city’s online retail sales jumped 16.5% from a year ago to reach 108.90 billion yuan (US$15.05 billion) in the mid-year shopping festival, Shenzhen Economic Daily quoted data from third-party data provider Langchao as saying yesterday.

The 618 event, which was conceived by China’s No. 2 e-commerce company JD.com Inc. in 2004 to celebrate its anniversary, is China’s second-largest shopping festival by sales after Singles’ Day in November.

The shopping festival now runs from late May until mid-June, with this year’s event, China’s first major online shopping festival after the nation emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, being closely followed by market analysts for signs of rebounding consumer spending in the country.

During this year’s event, Shenzhen encouraged major e-commerce platforms and merchants to offer customers steep discounts in the hopes of shoring up sales amid a weaker-than-expected recovery in consumption.

Leading e-commerce platforms and retail chain operators such as JD.com, Tmall, Taobao, Ele.me, CR Vanguard, Pupu Supermarket and Suning.com participated by offering discounts and incentives to consumers in their various promotional activities, driving sales and attracting consumers’ attention.

Taobao held special livestreaming sessions to promote Shenzhen products and offered multiple discounts to consumers.

More than 9,000 Shenzhen businesses took part in the livestreaming sessions during the 618 shopping festival, with their product categories ranging from jewelry, high-end women’s apparel, home furnishings to daily necessities.

Sales of jewelry and high-end women’s apparel amounted to nearly 800 million yuan and the promotion sessions have further boosted the influence of Shenzhen’s jewelry and women’s apparel industries in the country.

Ele.me, one of China’s largest food delivery platforms, launched various themed marketing activities to unlock people’s consumption enthusiasm, with daily sales doubling compared with normal days and total sales surpassing 10 million yuan.

Pupu Supermarket also introduced a series of large-scale promotional activities during this year’s 618 event, helping drive a 35.3% increase in sales.

CR Vanguard, a Shenzhen- based retail chain operator, saw its overall sales in the Shenzhen area increase approximately 150% compared with last year after launching a raft of promotional activities that were both cost-effective and fun. (Yang Yunfei)