China's trade-in incentives boost consumption during Double 11 shopping festival

China's trade-in incentive scheme significantly boosted consumption during this year's Double 11 shopping extravaganza, which drew to a close on Monday.

The trade-in program was added to festival discounts provided by e-commerce platforms for the first time during the major annual shopping event. Tmall teamed up with various brands, investing a total of 6 billion yuan ($829 million) to stimulate consumption. The initiative included category-specific coupons and official brand discounts. Meanwhile, Pinduoduo launched a super incentive campaign, focusing on incentives for items in key categories like mobile phones, electronics, and home appliances.

The trade-in scheme contributed to a year-on-year sales increase of over 80 percent on Suning.com, since the Double 11 shopping festival kicked off on October 14, said He Xiaowei, general manager of the retailer's Shanghai region, in an interview with Shanghai Security News. On JD.com, consumers from over 90 percent of China's county-level and rural areas participated in the trade-in program, resulting in record-high sales of categories such as 3C digital products and home appliances.

The combination of trade-in incentives and Double 11 promotions has played a crucial role in driving consumption, offering benefits to consumers while creating new growth opportunities in the home appliances market, said Chen Lifen, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's cabinet.

China has been actively promoting large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in programs for consumer goods to stimulate domestic demand and sustain economic growth. As of early November, these programs had attracted over 30 million participants and generated more than 400 billion yuan in sales, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

(With input from Xinhua)