Prior to Double 11, Wu Jia, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao User Platform, said, "We expect this year's Double 11 to have the largest number of participants in history, and we are confident about it."

Most of the brands and express delivery companies we contacted before the big promotion also set optimistic expectations for Double 11.

"When communicating with major customers before Double 11, the plans for this year's Double 11 are all about growth, with the growth rate far exceeding the same period last year," said a major customer manager of an express delivery company in southern China. Although the increase is high, due to the relatively long cycle, the peak intensity of express delivery is not high.

Monitoring data released by the State Post Bureau recently showed that from October 21st to 23rd (the first wave of pre-sales shipments), the national postal and express delivery industry received about 1.92 billion express parcels, an increase of 48.7% year-on-year; and delivered about 1.655 billion express parcels, an increase of 29.5% year-on-year. Among them, on October 22nd, 729 million express parcels were received, an increase of 74% year-on-year, setting a new record for single-day business volume, and Double 11 this year saw robust consumption across the entire network.

It is evident from the battle reports released by various platforms that consumption power is concentrated on the brand side.

Taking Tmall as an example, from the start of Double 11 to the evening of the 31st, a total of 373 brands achieved transactions exceeding 100 million yuan. Among them, there was significant growth in major brand products across various industries. International and domestic brands in categories such as beauty, apparel, electronics, and appliances collectively returned to the top of the rankings, indicating that the consumption "ceiling" for high customer order values has risen, and consumer vitality has increased across all price ranges.

Whether it's Tmall, JD.com, or Douyin E-commerce, brand growth is particularly noticeable in their battle reports. Multiple brands have stated that this year's Double 11 growth may be the fastest in recent years. The explosion of brands has dispelled the price gloom and responded to the long-term strategies of brands and platforms.

Since 2009, when 27 brands created the first Double 11, Tmall has always been the core field for brands seeking growth. In the 16th year, with interconnection, home appliance subsidies from the government, and platform experience upgrades, brands are once again in the spotlight.

How can brands succeed in Double 11?

Similarly, for major promotions, the average transaction price of Double 11 in the second half of the year is generally higher than that of 618 in the first half of the year.

In terms of apparel, 618 focuses on summer clothing with relatively low average transaction prices, while Double 11 focuses on winter clothing with higher average transaction prices, such as down jackets. In October this year, domestic mobile phone brands have successively launched new products, competing with Apple, which was released earlier, making it the most important node for mobile phone consumption.

The differences from 618 also bring about significant changes in consumer behavior. For example, high-price consumption is usually placed in the shopping cart and continuously understood and rationally decided. Platforms and brands need to provide a longer decision-making cycle. Moreover, with platforms like Tmall offering automatic coupon collection, price protection mechanisms, and other mechanisms, consumers no longer have to worry about post-purchase price drops.

"With the right time, place, and people, it's hard for Double 11 not to grow this year," said an online operator of a healthcare products brand, believing that the momentum comes from macroeconomic stimulus, high consumer sentiment, interconnection between platforms, and a significant increase in user base. Moreover, each platform now has a complete service system that can handle the surging wave of consumption.

Due to the existence of government subsidies for home appliances, helping brands "take advantage of the wind," platforms like Tmall place "government subsidies" on the homepage, side by side with Double 11 sections.

The platform sets the stage, but the brands must perform the show themselves. Multiple products from Robam occupied the top spots from October 14th to 21st, relying on targeted marketing for different product lines.

High-end products such as the G1 suite, D1 range hood and stove, and E1 range hood and stove have high average transaction prices and long decision-making cycles. The brand laid out off-site marketing in advance, strongly associating with Double 11 promotions while driving traffic to Tmall. The Black Wing D1 range hood and stove set, 28X6ST set, and B66 dishwasher secured core positions in Li Jiaqi's live stream room, contributing sales exceeding 10 million yuan.

Even without the wind of government subsidies for home appliances, brands have "ten thousand" ways to sell out during Double 11, creating opportunities for other categories of major brands to explode, such as content operations. This year's Double 11, Taobao Live is positioned as "quality live streaming," attempting to enhance content supply with high-quality content introductions, products, and services.

Brands have three different live e-commerce formats on Taobao Live. The first is comprehensive IP-based anchors, such as Li Jiaqi, Bee Surprise Club, and Mushroom Coming, who have full quality control capabilities with full-category inventories.

The second is more specialized vertical anchors, such as Jiu Meimei for food and fresh produce, Dalelegogo for fashion apparel, and Yijie Jewelry for jewelry accessories, filling in content elements for rational consumption decisions. The third is live streaming combined with store shelves, represented by brands such as SKII, Uniqlo, and Xilinmen, which are often associated with brand members, focusing on repeat purchases.

The above three types of live streaming are not completely separate. Some brands rely on a rich influencer matrix to achieve an explosion in the first half of Double 11.

The top domestic brand Proya ranked first in sales on the pre-order day on the 21st, with a faster billion-yuan sales breakthrough than before, achieving a billion yuan in sales in just 3 minutes and over 1 billion yuan in sales within the first 4 hours, with a daily sales explosion coefficient of up to 500 compared to previous sales.

In addition to the boost from large single products like the Ruby Mask, there are two other driving forces: one is channels, and the other is the membership system. Proya has deployed a rich influencer matrix on Tmall, with live sales transactions exceeding 800 million yuan in collaboration with multi-tier influencers; store live streaming has also performed stably, ranking first on a single day. As for the membership system, nearly 800 million yuan of Proya's sales came from members, accounting for 72% of the store's total sales.

Who is buying out brands?

After interconnection, Tmall Double 11 can reach a wider audience.

According to estimates from Insight Data Research Institute, after Taobao and WeChat Pay are interconnected, Tmall will have an additional user space of 152 million, with an incremental GMV scale of 576.3-1,088.3 billion yuan, with an upper limit of 2 trillion yuan and additional revenue of approximately 35.2-66.4 billion yuan. A report from data agency Mojing points out that the top brands and premium products mentioned earlier concentrated their explosions in the first stage, coupled with the advancement of the first stage of Tmall, leading to brands exploding first.

Undoubtedly, the increase is concentrated on new users. The industry generally believes that these new users are mainly middle-aged and elderly people in less developed regions, who may not be familiar with Taobao/Tmall's transaction habits. Therefore, before the start of Tmall Double 11, Taobao focused on automated coupon display and price protection mechanisms.

The so-called automated coupon display refers to users automatically receiving red envelopes or large coupons for 88VIP members, with the discounted price directly displayed. Regarding the price protection mechanism that brands mainly promote, users are now mentally mature, transitioning from "when is the best time to buy" to "it's not a loss to buy at any time."

The influx of new users means new increments. An online brand operator said, "The cost of acquiring new customers is too high. We didn't have any new customer acquisition actions during 618. Due to the interconnection bringing in new users, we relaunched new customer acquisition activities for Double 11, and I also have a new customer acquisition KPI."

The influx of new users is the source of vitality, but efficient conversion requires other methods. 88VIP users are obviously the most purchasing power group on the platform. From the first half of Double 11, 88VIP users have been exceptionally active in purchasing brands, especially high-price categories, and they are even the main consumer group.

At the Double 11 conference, Xiu Xun, General Manager of 88VIP Business at Taobao Group, mentioned that the scale of 88VIP members has reached 42 million, with a double-digit year-on-year increase. Members visit Taobao an average of 25 days per day, not only showing high activity but also having a wider purchase category range and higher purchasing power, which are five times and nine times that of ordinary users, respectively. The number of 88VIP user purchase UVs has increased by 8 times, and GMV has increased by 16 times, providing abundant and sustained driving force for brands.

Taking La Mer as an example, transactions from 88VIP members account for over 90% of the store's total. From the 21st to the 24th, La Mer collaborated with 88VIP to launch a members-only internal purchase event, with brand transactions exceeding 1 billion yuan, ranking first in the high-end beauty category.

Interconnection indirectly resulted in an over 50% year-on-year increase in new customer transactions for 88VIP. The newly launched Miracle Cream in August achieved transactions exceeding 30 million yuan; the same celebrity product as Jay Chou, the Essence Lotion, achieved transactions exceeding 200 million yuan; and the flagship product, the Miracle Cream family, achieved transactions exceeding 170 million yuan.

It's not just high-end cosmetics that are exploding. The long-term price-competitive apparel industry has also seen a return of consumer power during Double 11, with high-price brands exploding in the first round.

Cofound, a top apparel brand, started selling within 4 hours, achieving transactions exceeding 100 million yuan, surpassing the entire first day of last year. In the Tmall apparel store sales ranking, the down jacket brand Cofound ranked third, showing impressive performance. Since the start of Double 11 this year, Cofound has made its debut on the Tmall apparel sales ranking, ranking eighth.

Cofound's breakthrough is traceable.

A clothing merchant said that generally, brands need to be highly confident when launching new products during major promotions. Cofound's strategy was to first use Tmall's Little Black Box IP to preheat for Double 11 in September, leveraging the popular Cofound Black Pearl 4.0 series to attract high-net-worth individuals in the 2000+ price range while also completing product testing, laying the foundation for subsequent explosions.

During Double 11, Cofound leveraged platform marketing IPs such as "Explosion Festival" and "One Major Brand Per Day," effectively boosting overall traffic and sales performance. This stage is also when refined operation strategies come into play. Cofound systematically integrated content marketing, live stream interaction, blockbuster creation, and promotional activities.

Store live streaming is an important focus. Through the optimization of regular and impactful live streaming environments and active participation in industry live streaming events, it effectively promoted the accumulation of traffic and the growth of user assets, ranking first in the apparel live streaming pre-purchase transaction ranking for the entire period.

If Double 11 is considered a "big exam" for brands, in fact, before the exam, Jialuo, President of Tmall Business and also responsible for Taobao Live, has already given the answer. He mentioned when communicating with many anchors and brands, "You need to broadcast every day, not just a few times a month."

The changes and constants of Double 11

More than half of the 16th Double 11 has passed, with the product mix shifting from limited items to sought-after premium products. To match consumer behavior, the cycle has also been extended. Consumers have also experienced targeted red envelope grabbing, mini-game red envelope assistance, and now a comprehensive reduction in activities.

It seems that every Double 11 undergoes endless changes.

However, in terms of consumption rhythm and brands, Double 11 has hardly changed at all—it is a node for the concentrated release of consumption power throughout the year and a window for brands to explode and achieve breakthroughs. Consumers may perceive changes, but more so because over the 16-year long cycle, people's sense of novelty has gradually turned into a habit or lifestyle.

Chu Duan, who joined Taobao in 2007 and is now President of Taobao Platform Business Department, said with some emotion when reflecting on his 17-year career, "Taobao is not just about shopping; Taobao is life; Taobao is about happily buying something today."

The shift from a sense of novelty to a lifestyle reflects the return of consumer rationality rather than a decline in consumption power.

Consumers will no longer simply attract people due to the annual promotional game or place orders passionately just because an anchor says, "One, two, three, go to the link." When seeing low prices, they will consider whether it suits them and whether there is a better shopping and after-sales experience.

Double 11 has not ended yet, but from many battle reports, we can see that for brands and high-price premium products, consumption power is still being continuously released. Transactions are essentially supply and demand. When consumers become rational from emotional, they actually benefit more as they have more resources and patience to meet the above-mentioned transformation.

It should be noted that today's consumers are not like Cupid in Shakespeare's works; they will neither act recklessly like children nor be blinded by cloth.