Slower Sales at China's Midyear Shopping Festival Signals Consumption Weakness

By Tracy Qu

Sales at China's second-largest shopping festival of the year slowed, signaling persistent weakness in domestic consumption.

During the 618 shopping event, which ran from May 13 to June 18, online sales rose 4.0% from a year earlier to 934.0 billion yuan, equivalent to $137.86 billion, according to data provider Syntun's official WeChat account on Tuesday. That marked a sharp slowdown from the 15% growth recorded during last year's festival.

Sales in the on-demand delivery category increased more than 110% year-on-year, while sales via traditional e-commerce grew just 0.9%. Both Alibaba and JD.com have invested heavily in food delivery businesses in recent quarters.

The annual 618 shopping event, which commemorates the founding anniversary of online-shopping company JD.com, ranks as the nation's second-largest shopping event after the Singles' Day extravaganza held by rival Alibaba.

Consumer interest in such events has waned, partly because e-commerce platforms now host multiple promotional campaigns throughout the year.

None of those companies disclosed total sales figures for the event. JD.com said the number of users who placed orders on its platform during the festival reached a record high.

Alibaba's Tmall ranked the first in Syntun's ranking of 618 sales, followed by JD.com and ByteDance's Douyin platform.

China's retail sales declined 0.6% in May, the first such drop since December 2022, according to official data released earlier this month.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 01:43 ET (05:43 GMT)