The Quietest 618 on Record: Why Has the Shopping Festival Lost Its Buzz?

A festival that no longer feels festive

China’s mid‑year shopping rush 618 arrived this year with a whisper, not a roar. Major platforms — Alibaba (阿里巴巴)’s Taobao and Tmall (淘宝/天猫), JD.com (京东), Pinduoduo (拼多多) and ByteDance (字节跳动)’s Douyin (抖音) — collectively pared back complex pre‑sale mechanics, cross‑store discounts and layered coupon math. The result: simpler pages, clearer final prices, and fewer of the “one‑night only” stunts that used to drive frenzied, time‑compressed buying. But was this a conscious choice to be user‑friendly — or a forced retreat? It has been reported that a mix of regulatory pressure and promo fatigue left platforms little choice.

Simpler rules helped consumers — and squeezed merchants

On the surface consumers won. Platforms promoted “one‑click” discounts and removed convoluted thresholds, making checkout straightforward. Yet simplification shifted costs. Pre‑sale mechanisms that let merchants “sell to produce” vanished; inventory and financing risks have been pushed back onto brands and smaller sellers. Reportedly, the enforced end to chronic deep‑discounting also narrows the ways smaller merchants can compete, since traffic now favors established sellers with existing data and reviews. So who really benefited? Consumers get less friction. Merchants shoulder more structural pressure.

AI is the new battlefield for the next‑generation shopping entry

Beyond rules and rebates, the real fight is over who controls tomorrow’s shopping gateway. It has been reported that Taobao’s integration with Alibaba’s Qianwen AI, JD.com’s standalone AI shopping app, and ByteDance‑linked tools that let users shop via conversational assistants all signal a shift: AI is being pushed to replace search and to become the primary e‑commerce entry point. Why does this matter? Because if AI dialogue and AI recommendations become the first thing users open, platforms will own the user’s purchase path — a strategic advantage far beyond any single promo weekend. Geopolitics looms in the background too: U.S. export controls on advanced chips and intensified scrutiny of data practices are accelerating China’s race to build homegrown AI stacks.

618 hasn’t disappeared. It has been diluted. Daily low prices, constant coupons and tighter regulators have hollowed out the festival’s scarcity engine. The real contest now is long run — about retention, efficiency and who anchors the next generation of online shopping. Who wins the AI‑first entry will shape whether big sales days remain cultural moments or simply another line in a perpetual promotion calendar. Which outcome do platforms prefer? It depends on who can control the conversation — literally.