China's 'new domestic goods' drives new wave of consumption
Updated 13:57, 12-Nov-2020
Li Mingtao
China Time-Honored Expo, Shanghai, October 11, 2020. /VCG

China Time-Honored Expo, Shanghai, October 11, 2020. /VCG

Editor's note: Li Mingtao is the president and chief expert of the Research Institute, China International Electronic Commerce Center. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

China's largest shopping spree, Double 11, broke another sales record, with 498.2 billion yuan ($74.1 billion) in sales revenue on Tmall.com and 271.5 billion yuan on JD.com by November 11.

What's behind the number is an intensive eruption of China's tremendous consumption power in the post-epidemic era. Among all the categories of goods, Chinese domestic goods become an another emerging force since 2019. By midnight November 11, there were 16 new domestic brands surpassing sales revenue of 100 million yuan. 

New Chinese domestic goods refer to a certain number of fast-growing Chinese brands incubated on the internet, including some traditional IPs with cutting-edge designs, and some time-honored brands launching a slew of crossover products such as the White Rabbit creamy candy co-branding with Scent Library to create a kind of milky candy. According to Alibaba, 70 percent of the new trending brands on Tmall.com are Chinese.

Relying on accurate consumption data and customer portraits, a number of new trending brands have positioned themselves very well in the market. By taking advantage of their IPs, they have integrated supply chain resources to meet segmented consumer demands, connected customers in an all-round way through multiple channels, and thereby achieved explosive growth.

The big screen shows Tmall Double 11 sales revenue reached 498.2 billion yuan by November 12. /VCG

The big screen shows Tmall Double 11 sales revenue reached 498.2 billion yuan by November 12. /VCG

The fact that new domestic brands have become all the rage is a credit to the accelerating arrival of the new era of consumption. The post-90s generation and millennials are now the major forces of consumption in Chinese society. Having grown up at a time when China's economy developed rapidly, they have formed more inclusive concepts towards consumption due to their recognition and strong sense of pride to their home country.

At the same time, this generation has grown up the internet and value the expressions of their individuality on this medium. Their concepts of consumption from "have" to "be" is driving this new consumption wave.

Many of the new Chinese domestic brands manufacturers are seizing this change as a chance. Through livestreaming on platforms like Taobao, Douyin, or Kuaishou, brand owners have diversified ways of communicating with their customers.

By inviting the influencers to endorse their goods online, putting short-video advertisement and content marketing, the new Chinese domestic goods created a huge number of new audiences and consumers. 

They've also used intelligent services to build up flexible supply chains and are able to upgrade their products in response to consumer needs and current trends. 

Looking at this year's Double 11, an amount of overseas brands is found explosive sales growth. By noon November 1, the turnover of the imported goods increased a year-on-year 47.3 percent on Tmall Global, among which 180 overseas brands traded over 10 million yuan and 816 overseas brands traded over one million yuan.

Behind the shopping spree is the concentrated release of hundreds of billions of consumer demand in China, especially at a time when cross-border travel has been severely impacted by the pandemic, the Chinese market is such a huge cake that the global brands find it too tempting to refuse.

From a strategic point of view, the rise of new Chinese domestic products offers overseas brands a good opportunity to analyze the changing trends of the Chinese' psychology and consumption habits. To put it simply, they can position themselves better to meet the demand of the Chinese market by developing more creative products.

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