618 Observation: Electronics and Daily Necessities Become Consumption Hotspots, JD.com Leads Industry in Sales Scale and Growth Rate
The e-commerce industry competition is intensifying. The 2025 618 Shopping Festival kicked off earlier than previous years, with major platforms simplifying promotional activities to lower consumer participation barriers.
618 Campaign Starts Early: E-commerce Giants Simplify Rules and Offer Direct Discounts
On May 13, JD.com, Taobao/Tmall, Douyin and other mainstream platforms simultaneously launched promotions, marking the start of the annual 618 Shopping Festival a month earlier than usual. Unlike previous years’ complex discount rules, major platforms have simplified their approaches this year to lower consumer participation barriers and lay the foundation for a prosperous 618 shopping season.
JD.com focuses on “spot direct discounts” with increased subsidies; Tmall canceled minimum purchase requirements for the first time, offering official direct discounts starting from 15%; Pinduoduo launched a “¥30 off for every ¥200 spent” promotion; Douyin adopted a platform-wide 15% instant discount strategy; Kuaishou attracted consumers with designated product coupons, flash sales, and doubled brand subsidies. This “simple and direct” promotional strategy not only improves the shopping experience but also stimulates consumption enthusiasm, potentially leading to stronger market performance this 618.
Sustained 618 Popularity: Multi-platform Cross-category Shopping Becomes Norm
Latest data shows that during May 13-June 10, average daily independent online devices increased significantly year-over-year, indicating high user participation. Daily total effective usage time increased by 6.4 billion minutes, showing significantly improved user engagement.
The 618 Shopping Festival has become a landmark event in consumption, with consumers developing the habit of purchasing discounted products during this period. Consumption mainly focuses on two aspects: stocking up on daily necessities and upgrading quality for major annual purchases.
Data shows that individual consumers shop across an average of 2.9 platforms and purchase over 3.5 product categories, demonstrating active omni-channel consumption and strong cross-category demand. JD.com and Taobao/Tmall remain the main battlefields, forming an “two giants leading, multiple platforms sharing” competitive landscape.
Consumer spending during this 618 festival shows significant growth, with the core spending range expanding from ¥501-2000 to ¥501-3000 for daily online purchases, representing a per capita increase of ¥656. Nearly 40% of respondents reported higher spending than last year’s 618, mainly due to simplified rules enabling faster and more concentrated purchasing decisions amid consumers’ continuous pursuit of quality life.
Electronics Sales Maintain Momentum: JD.com Leads in Market Share and Growth
Graduation Season Boosts 3C Digital Products to New Highs
Following the 2024 college entrance examination and entering the final stage of 618, sales of 3C digital products continue to grow rapidly. Smartphones have become the most popular product in the 3C digital category during 618. JD.com’s 3C digital category performance is particularly outstanding, with its full-channel sales share reaching 50%, a year-on-year increase of 45%, hitting a record high.
In JD.com’s 3C subcategories, sales of action cameras and portable power stations increased by 133% and 113% respectively, demonstrating young consumers’ enthusiasm for “light outdoor” lifestyles. XR devices and game consoles became “stress relievers” for graduates, with sales increasing over 50%. Smart devices represented by smart watches also performed well, with overall category sales growing 54% year-on-year, and smart watches achieving 80% growth, reflecting accelerated integration of smart devices into daily life.
JD.com has established its position in the 3C digital field through years of cultivation. Its self-built logistics system enables rapid delivery, and its “JD-style service” covering the entire shopping process provides consumers with a worry-free experience, building an unshakable competitive barrier.
Consumption Upgrade Drives Home Appliance Quality Transformation
Driven by the consumption upgrade wave, China’s home appliance market is transitioning from scale expansion to quality improvement. During this year’s 618 promotion, home appliance categories show strong growth momentum.
Stimulated by multiple subsidies, “trade-in” policies and national subsidies, JD.com’s large home appliances account for 53% of full-channel sales with 20% year-on-year growth, while small home appliances account for 51% with 18% sales growth, leading the industry.
For large appliances, JD.com’s washer-dryer combos, central air conditioners, and air-source water heaters show particularly significant growth, confirming that quality and comfort demands have become core drivers of industry growth. Among small appliances, multi-functional cooking pots, electronic scales, fruit and vegetable cleaners, meat grinders, and slicers show explosive growth exceeding 100%, reflecting consumers’ home cooking needs and strong demand for healthy eating and kitchen efficiency.
As a core home appliance platform, JD.com continues to win consumer favor with its comprehensive price protection system and rich product matrix. Research shows that 39% of consumers choose JD.com for home appliances because of its “perfect price protection service” and “rich product categories where I can find what I need,” effectively meeting dual demands for quality life and shopping security.
Stockpiling Economy Effect Significant During Promotion
Consumers’ habit of stockpiling during promotions has formed a stable pattern. As a mid-year consumption event, the 618 promotion has created a significant siphon effect on household daily consumption. Holiday marketing has become a core driver of gift consumption growth, further boosting 618 shopping enthusiasm.
JD.com’s daily necessities category is expanding rapidly, establishing competitive advantages in this category. User research reveals that high logistics efficiency, rich product categories, and stable inventory are core reasons consumers choose JD.com for daily necessities.
In stockpiling categories, healthy foods like low-temperature dairy products, light meals, European bread, walnut oil and olive oil, as well as kitchen supplies like insulated bags, manual coffee machines, and sealers show obvious growth, reflecting consumers’ increasing attention to healthy eating and home cooking experience. Convenient home products like adjustable clothes racks and ironing boards, as well as daily tools like clothing storage and travel storage, also show strong growth on JD.com, demonstrating modern life’s demand for efficient space utilization. Notably, fast-moving consumer goods like tissue paper doubled on JD.com, reflecting consumers’ awareness of daily necessities reserves and JD.com’s position as a purchasing market for basic daily goods.
From a holiday economy perspective, this year’s JD.com 618 promotion cleverly connects multiple important consumption nodes including 520, Dragon Boat Festival, and Children’s Day. Under the dual effects of “emotional consumption upgrade” and “social gift demand,” it presents distinct gift economy characteristics. During 520, slimming trends emerged in beauty and personal care, with products like slimming leg massagers and foot patches surging, reflecting consumers’ preference for localized shaping and convenient body care. During Dragon Boat Festival, traditional folk products like zongzi, tea, and seafood remain popular while high-end gifts like imported liquor increased over 70%, showing a “traditional + high-end” holiday consumption trend. Children’s Day parent-child consumption market shows interest-oriented and culture-empowered characteristics, with categories like ethnic musical instruments, board games, and figurines growing over 80%, reflecting not only new-generation parents’ attention to children’s interests but also revealing the huge potential of the parent-child consumption market.
Seasonal Demand Boosts Apparel and Accessories Sales
As a typical strong seasonal consumption category, apparel and accessories during the 618 promotion show significant features of clearance and new arrivals. Before the hot summer arrives, platforms use 618 for precise marketing to maximize seasonal consumption dividends.
JD.com’s apparel and accessories category sales grew steadily, promoting JD.com’s transformation from a 3C and home appliances-focused platform to a balanced multi-category ecosystem. Continued high temperatures and strong ultraviolet radiation drive sales of seasonal clothing like sunscreen clothing, T-shirts and tank tops, with sunscreen clothing increasing 274%. Meanwhile, brands’ off-season promotion strategies significantly boosted sales of winter clothing like cashmere sweaters and wool coats on JD.com. Under the summer tourism consumption boom, beach vacations and music festival scene demands drove JD.com’s colored gem jewelry sales up 263%, while special clothing categories like Hanfu achieved astonishing 283% growth, showing strong market potential for differentiated products.
Consumer research shows that JD.com’s competitive advantages in apparel mainly include: transparent promotional policies and rich product models jointly constitute key decision factors for users to choose JD.com for clothing purchases.
In summary, this year’s 618 Shopping Festival continues its previous popularity, with JD.com showing coordinated growth across all categories. While continuing to lead in core categories like 3C digital and home appliances, JD.com successfully broke industry barriers to achieve structural breakthroughs in daily necessities and apparel categories. Through innovative marketing strategies and precise user reach, JD.com not only strengthened emotional connections in holiday consumption scenarios but also improved its “multi-category resonance” retail ecosystem, continuously consolidating its competitive advantages in supply chain efficiency and user experience.
