Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have set new sales records for this year’s “Double Eleven” shopping bonanza as the two online retailers have extended the sales window for the shopping event to drive up consumption crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the shopping festival that ran from November 1 to November 11, Alibaba generated 498.2 billion yuan ($74.1 billion) in gross merchandise value, sharply up from 268.4 billion yuan a year ago.

Alibaba said that some 250,000 brands participated in the shopping carnival, about 31,000 of which were from overseas, with livestreaming becoming a key marketing tool for vendors.

Meanwhile, JD.com logged 271.5 billion yuan in transaction volume for the 11-day period, compared with 204.4 billion yuan it registered last year.

JD.com said that the cities with the highest per capita consumption from new users were lesser known ones including Yingtan in Jiangxi province, Tongchuan in Shaanxi province and Chuzhou in Anhui province, a trend implying that the shopping event is used as a way to attract price-conscious new users in lower-tier Chinese cities.

The record sales numbers come days after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation published a draft guideline aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviors by internet platforms, a clear sign of the government’s growing concerns over the risks of digital platforms run by the likes of Alibaba and JD.com.

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)

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