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Can China’s tech giants do without consumers?

Slashing prices and launching aggressive campaigns isn’t opening pocketbooks; Beijing must spur spending

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    • An option in the face of domestic struggles is for Chinese e-commerce companies to pursue more revenue streams overseas, which has played out well for PDD Holdings, the parent company of Temu.
    • An option in the face of domestic struggles is for Chinese e-commerce companies to pursue more revenue streams overseas, which has played out well for PDD Holdings, the parent company of Temu. PHOTO: REUTERS

    DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.

    Catherine Thorbecke

    Published Mon, Aug 19, 2024 · 05:23 PM

    EARNINGS reports from Chinese tech companies, recently released, should be a wake-up call for Beijing.

    Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com pulled out all the stops to attract customers to spend during their 618 shopping festival, a Black Friday-like extravaganza that took place during the quarter ending in June. They offered steeper-than-ever discounts on everything from iPhones to loungewear, enlisted A-list celebrities like Rihanna to promote products, and even experimented with a digital avatar of an executive to hawk goods over livestream.

    But Alibaba’s revenue from its core e-commerce platforms fell by some 1.4 per cent, and retail revenue at JD.com, which offered some of the most cut-throat markdowns, ticked up by 1.5 per cent.

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