Alibaba, JD, Other China E-Commerce Firms Clock Record Sales In Expanded 618 Event, But Daily Spending Drops

China's largest mid-year shopping festival, 618, saw record sales, but daily spending dropped, signaling that consumer purchase activity remains weak in the country, according to a Reuters report.

The festival generated a combined gross merchandise value (GMV) of 855.6 billion yuan ($119 billion), a 15% increase from last year’s event, driven in part by a one-week extension of the sale period, according to the report, which cited data from retail data provider Syntun.

However, according to Reuters calculations, the average daily spending is 23.1 billion yuan, compared with 24.8 billion yuan last year.

In recent months, the Chinese government has rolled out subsidies on a range of consumer products and urged e-commerce platforms to keep their fee low to revive sales amid a prolonged economic slump.

What began as a one-day celebration marking JD.com’s June 18 founding, 618 has evolved into a month-long shopping festival, now embraced across all major e-commerce platforms.

In terms of business clocked, Alibaba's (BABA) Tmall ranked top, followed by JD.com, ByteDance's Douyin, and PDD's Pinduoduo in this year's sales event. The report did not break down absolute sales figures.

JD said the number of users placing orders at the 618 event more than doubled, while Alibaba noted that 453 brands surpassed 100 million yuan in GMV over the sale period.

According to the report, the top brands that saw interest include Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, Nike, Adidas L'Oréal, and Lululemon.

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