This year marks the 9th year of the 11.11 campaign since marketers first created it in 2009. Looking back over those nine years, it becomes increasingly clear that the game has become harder every year, because after every campaign ends, the same questions are always asked: How much did sales grow this year? What percentage increase was it from last year? Was a new record set? Those records have been broken again and again every year, until it has become an expectation that people want to hear after every 11.11 campaign. It is like riding a tiger—you cannot easily get off. And this year is no different. GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) remains the highlight that everyone is still paying attention to.

What the media focused on this year was that Alibaba no longer used the slogan "Everything 50% Off." Instead, it changed to "Happy 11.11." Many Chinese shoppers commented on the new slogan, saying, "Honestly, the old 50%-off slogan made me happier." Moreover, many shoppers again complained about various problems this year. In short, the new slogan did not make Chinese shoppers any happier at all.

In previous years, 11.11 campaigns focused on setting product prices as low as possible. Shoppers competed on speed—typing speed and internet speed—and many stayed up until midnight to shop. But this year was different, because the way the game was played had changed.

1.) Added complexity with red envelopes. To be clear, these were red envelopes, not direct discounts. Each store offered different promotions. Tmall itself had a rather complicated red-envelope system. In addition to Tmall’s discounts, each brand also had its own discount, and both could be used together. That was still not all. Each brand also added extra conditions, such as another 20% off when buying 5 items, or another 10% off when spending 1,000 yuan. This left many consumers confused by the layers of red envelopes and discounts, to the point that they did not know how much they actually had to pay and had to call customer service for help.

At the same time, this red-envelope approach did not offer anything truly new to consumers. Instead, it created an even higher barrier to participation. Some media even analyzed this strategy as an indirect way of segmenting consumers: those who are highly sensitive to discounts will hunt for multiple red envelopes and spend time calculating which one gives the best deal, while another group that has no time will simply buy directly and accept only a single discount. That gives sellers a chance to earn more profit from the latter group.

2.) Endless price-cutting. Since all consumers want very high discounts in order to buy at the lowest possible price, stores are pulled into fierce competition and price wars, leaving profit margins extremely low. This raises the concern that the game could eventually become unsustainable. Fortunately, after many years of promotion, Alibaba Group has successfully turned 11.11 into a festival, causing many consumers to delay purchases in order to wait for this date and time.

Besides offering massive discounts, Alibaba has also begun trying to encourage people to pay more attention to product quality. This is because in past years many shoppers who bought only for the discount ended up disappointed with product quality.

3.) Extending the period of happiness. This year, beyond the more complex gameplay and multi-layer red-envelope rules, Alibaba Group added another barrier: it doubled the game period. In previous years, shoppers had to buy on 11.11 itself, or pre-order during the 10 days before it (from November 1). But this year, many stores opened pre-orders as early as October 20, twenty days in advance. The advantage is that stores can manage inventory and after-sales service better. In fact, Alibaba had experimented with pre-orders for years, but before this it required only a deposit, which led to many cancellations and refund requests on 11.11. It also gave Taobao copycat sellers enough time to produce imitation goods—just ten days was already more than enough. But this year the rules changed: to pre-order, shoppers had to pay in full and could not return the goods.

Still, the 11.11 campaign this year was not all bad. It also had some positives. In previous years, the event mostly served to clear old inventory at deep discounts, but this year many brands launched newly designed products during 11.11. The marketing therefore began to shift. Instead of relying only on celebrities and presenters, this year there was more promotion through games and movie tie-ins, which created stronger interest.

In summary, Chinese consumers are starting to feel tired of this style of shopping, especially since it happens twice a year—11.11 on Tmall and June 18 on JD.com. So if the platforms want this game to remain fun and last for a long time, they will need to find new mechanisms to stimulate customers. Let us see what happens next year.