JD.com, one of China's largest e-commerce sites, saw sales surge during the 618 shopping festival, the first major shopping event since the country's reopening. According to a client note from Citi analysts, JD.com's sales grew 6-8 per cent over the festival period. This was higher than Citi's expectations of 2-5 per cent growth, although still lower than the 10.3 per cent growth for JD.com's gross merchandising value (GMV) logged last year and 27.7 per cent growth in 2021.

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The 618 festival, named after the founding date of JD.com but embraced by all e-commerce platforms, is a key indicator of Chinese consumer spending. To entice shoppers, platforms offered billions of yuan in coupons and subsidies. Despite this, sentiment among shoppers was subdued due to worries about the job and property markets, which could have a negative impact on China's post-pandemic recovery. This was reflected in retail sales figures from May, which rose 12.7 per cent, missing a consensus estimate of 13.6 per cent growth and slowing from 18.4 per cent growth in April.

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Analysts from Goldman Sachs and Jefferies both noted that JD.com's sales during 618 had exceeded expectations, although neither provided numerical estimates. JD.com and Alibaba, another major e-commerce platform, have both stopped releasing GMV figures for the Singles Day shopping festival.


Sources: https://internetretailing.com.au/jd-com-sales-during-china-shopping-festival-better-than-expected/