In the wake of the massive online shopping fest that is Singles’ Day, younger Chinese are questioning whether the event founded by sales platform Alibaba aligns with their values and financial goals, Jing Daily reports.
On the social media platform Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote), discussions around overconsumption and conscious spending have overshadowed news about record-breaking sales numbers. “Saving money is more of a flex than spending it,” read one viral post, while Chinese hashtags like #spendmoneywhereitcounts, #changesinconsumptionconcepts and #reduceshoppingdesire have been gaining traction.
Gen Zers have also been highlighting the so-called “discount illusion” happening when retailers hike prices before a sale to give buyers the impression of bigger bargains.
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Greg Grigorian, editor-in-chief of Pop Mart’s youth culture magazine Playground told Jing Daily that the trend towards more conscious consumption in China was “not necessarily about anti-capitalism”, as has been the case this year in many Western countries – where ‘No Buy 2025’ has become a popular challenge across social media.
“The biggest reason [in the Chinese mainland] is the slowing economy and the lack of confidence young people have in the future,” Grigorian said.
Singles’ Day, which began in 2009 as a one-day online sales event targeting the country’s singles, has morphed into a multi-week shopping marathon. This year’s edition, starting in mid-October, ran for five weeks as retailers tried to lift spending amid sluggish consumer confidence.
While data from Syntun showed Singles’ Day transactions rose 17.5 percent year-on-year to almost 1.7 trillion yuan ($240 billion), the shopping event’s growth is decelerating. Last year’s spending spree made 26.6 percent gains compared with 2023.
Emarketer pointed out that while the total value of transactions did indeed rise, the 2025 festival ran longer than ever before and platforms like Alibaba and JD.com spent heavily to drive demand, likely impacting their bottom lines.
