Singles’ Day discounts have not yet translated into a clear pickup in Chinese consumer spending, according to early retail data and analysts.
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China’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, centered on Nov. 11, is showing early signs of failing to overcome consumers’ reluctance to spend more despite widespread discounts.
Retail data platform Syntun said cumulative Singles’ Day sales as of Oct. 31 totaled just over 1 trillion yuan (about $154 billion), broadly in line with the same period last year. Singles’ Day sales reached a record of nearly 1.7 trillion yuan (about $254 billion) in 2025.
The festival is widely viewed as a barometer for the broader economy. Even as China’s overall growth remained relatively robust, with the economy expanding 4.6% year over year in January–September, retail sales of consumer goods rose just 1.1% over the same period.
Analysts pointed to subdued confidence tied to the ongoing property downturn. Home prices have fallen roughly 20% or more from their 2021 peak, and Andy Rothman, founder and CEO of Sinology, said many homeowners remain concerned prices could fall further.
In Foshan, where furniture manufacturing is a major industry, 24-year-old Gabby Liang said she is buying much less online, particularly for non-essential items. “During the Singles’ Day festival last year, I bought quite a bit of skincare products. But this year I expect to buy fewer,” she said.
Others described hesitancy about brand shopping and a shift toward fewer purchases. Beijing resident Kong Min said he was “not as keen on pursuing famous or high-end brands as I used to be,” and China Market Research Group managing director Shaun Rein said many discounts are less generous than they once were.
Research founder Yaling Jiang, of ApertureChina, said discount fatigue may be setting in as promotions are available year-round and Singles’ Day is no longer seen as the single period for the biggest cuts. “Looking at what Singles’ Day originally was: a shopping festival where people used to expect the largest discounts of the year… That is not true any more after it was extended to multiple platforms, then to a monthlong thing,” she said.
To encourage spending, e-commerce companies are leaning on new technology. Alibaba said it integrated its Qwen AI into its Taobao and Tmall platforms to help shoppers place orders and find products, and plans offering AI tokens are also being promoted during Singles’ Day.
According to Chinese media, a livestream by Li Jiaqi, known as the “Lipstick King” for his past sales of cosmetics, sold plans covering roughly 2 trillion tokens within half an hour.
Despite the uncertainty around overall demand, some categories are performing better. Beijing-based consultancy WPIC Marketing + Technologies CEO Jacob Cooke said health, lifestyle and experiences are increasingly used as status symbols, noting that online sales of imported fish oil rose nearly 43% year over year in the 12 months through September.
Cooke also said sales of supplements aimed at improving sleep or supporting joint and bone health grew between 28% and 37%, and he expects some growth during this year’s Singles’ Day sales. Jiang described this year’s broader consumer mood as “just living life,” with customers focusing on “the bare necessities and internal fulfillment.”
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