151: Chapter 151: Sales Exceeded 50 Billion?

The next day, 10:00 AM.

JD.com was the first to release its battle report on its official blog, announcing that its total platform sales for this year's 618 Shopping Festival had broken last year's record, reaching 50 billion.

Although it was only a few billion more than last year, it was at least positive growth, and this was achieved under the impact of the Multi-billion Subsidy.

The announcement also mentioned one thing: this year, JD.com saw a significant increase in the proportion of new users across many categories, a considerable portion of whom came from lower-tier cities.

However, this was also a normal phenomenon.

You have to understand.

Before Pinduoduo was launched, the online shopping market was still in a growth phase, with the number of shopping users increasing every year. Pinduoduo opened the door to online shopping for users in the sinking market, but these people would not just stay on Pinduoduo.

After buying a few things on Pinduoduo and establishing trust in online shopping, these brand-new users from the sinking market would also try other platforms.

This proportion among all sinking market users was actually not low.

Plus, since JD.com and Pinduoduo did not have overly conflicting ecological niches, JD.com also enjoyed some of the benefits.

The comment section was also full of congratulations.

"JD.com's promotional intensity this year was indeed greater than Taobao's. The home appliances I bought were the cheapest on the entire web. Of course, this might be because Pinduoduo didn't have these specific appliances."

"The logistics are still fast. I bought something yesterday, and it shows that it will arrive this afternoon. Although Pinduoduo's prices are cheap, the delivery is still slower than JD.com."

"The two platforms complement each other. It's safer to buy expensive things on JD.com, and it saves money to buy cheap things on Pinduoduo."

A few hours later, Taobao also released its 618 Shopping Festival battle report from the previous day.

182 billion.

This number also set a historical record.

You have to know that three days ago.

The most pessimistic internal forecast at Taobao was just to be on par with last year.

Now seeing that it had risen instead of falling, no matter how small the increase, it could at least temporarily stabilize the confidence of investors and the market. Originally, under the impact of Pinduoduo's Multi-billion Subsidy, many people even thought that Taobao's sales this year would decline.

But everyone paying attention to this 618 Shopping Festival knew that the signal revealed by this number itself was not optimistic.

Last year, Taobao's 618 Shopping Festival sales had already reached 180 billion. This year, with the total online shopping market expanding and Pinduoduo pulling a large number of new users into the e-commerce ecosystem, Taobao's growth was less than 2 billion.

This growth trend.

It wasn't even as much as JD.com's growth compared to last year.

An increase of 2 billion was almost equivalent to standing still.

The impact of Pinduoduo's Multi-billion Subsidy on Taobao was huge; this data alone was enough to illustrate it.

However, fortunately, Taobao still stabilized its base.

The figure of 182 billion was still an unattainable height in the entire e-commerce industry, and almost no one inside Taobao thought that Pinduoduo could exceed this number.

And after Taobao also announced its battle report, everyone's eyes fell on the last platform that had not yet spoken.

Pinduoduo.

At this moment.

Almost the entire web's attention was focused on Pinduoduo's official blog, waiting for this full-category e-commerce platform, which had been online for less than a month, to announce its first 618 Shopping Festival results.

...

At the same time, JD.com headquarters.

There were many people sitting in the conference room, but the atmosphere was not tense.

This year's data was out; it exceeded last year's, and it maintained positive growth under the impact of Pinduoduo, which could be considered a decent report card.

Liu Qiang scanned everyone present.

"The overall performance this year is quite okay."

"The share of each category hasn't fluctuated much compared to the same period last year, which shows that our foundation is still solid."

"Continue to maintain our logistics advantage, and at the same time increase investment in high-end categories. Pinduoduo is focusing on the low-to-mid end, while we stand firm in the high-end. The two lines do not conflict."

Vice President Wang Bing was flipping through the data report in his hand and asked.

"Pinduoduo's sales this year, according to our estimates, breaking 100 billion is a certainty. After all, the intensity of the Multi-billion Subsidy is there. Just the digital products and beauty categories alone have already achieved considerable sales."

Several executives nearby also nodded, feeling that this prediction was relatively reliable. Someone added that with the increase from livestreaming, it shouldn't be a problem for Pinduoduo to just exceed 100 billion.

Listening to everyone's words, Liu Qiang leaned back in his chair with a slight smile on his lips.

"Whether it's 100 billion or 120 billion, it's a number for Taobao to worry about, not us. If Pinduoduo doesn't announce it today, Taobao might not even be able to sleep well."

A few light laughs echoed in the conference room.

And the reality was much like what he thought.

...

Anli Group headquarters.

The atmosphere in Taobao's conference room was not relaxed, but it couldn't be called tense either.

The 618 Shopping Festival battle report had already been sent out, and the data had at least defended the base, with no decline compared to last year.

Feng Haicang stood in front of the screen, his tone carrying a hint of relief.

"I think we can directly announce that Taobao's 618 Shopping Festival sales this year are already the champion among e-commerce platforms."

"182 billion—no other company in the entire industry can produce this number."

"No matter how hard Pinduoduo chases, it's impossible to catch up to this number in just one month. Our estimate is only 100 billion."

An executive nearby immediately agreed.

"Pinduoduo has been online for less than a month, and its product categories are far behind ours."

"Although the Multi-billion Subsidy is indeed fierce, their supply capacity is limited. Many things that users want to buy are simply not available on Pinduoduo, and this part of the demand eventually flows back to Taobao."

Another executive also nodded.

"It's already very exaggerated for Pinduoduo to break 100 billion. Even with the most optimistic forecast, at most it will be another 20 or 30 billion more. It's impossible to catch up to us."

Old Ma leaned on the head seat, his teacup never leaving his hand.

He listened to everyone's statements and turned his head to look at Ma Kun beside him.

"I also think it's about time to announce it directly; there's no need to wait for Pinduoduo at all."

"You really don't need to be too cautious. With Taobao's accumulation over so many years, how could it be surpassed by Pinduoduo so quickly? There's no need to be so nervous."

In his view, Ma Kun's state these past few days had been a bit too tense.

After the figure of 182 billion for Taobao came out, his son actually didn't have much relief.

At this moment.

Everyone's eyes followed Old Ma and looked at Ma Kun.

Ma Kun raised his head and scanned the people in the conference room.

"You all estimate that Pinduoduo only has about 100 billion in sales for this 618 Shopping Festival?"

Everyone nodded.

Ma Kun sat up a little straighter.

"Do you think 100 billion is very little?"

"Even if Pinduoduo only achieves 100 billion, it's not far from us."

His tone was clearly dissatisfied.

"You have to know, if you don't count Pinhaohuo, Pinduoduo hasn't even officially been doing full-category e-commerce for a month!"

"One month, and they achieved more than half of Taobao's sales. Don't you think that's exaggerated?"

"If Pinduoduo is given half a year, or a year, what level will Pinduoduo's sales reach by then?"

"Even if Pinduoduo can't beat us in this year's 618 Shopping Festival, in the next few years, Pinduoduo will be Taobao's biggest opponent!"

He paused.

"Besides."

"We still don't know what Pinduoduo's actual number is this year..."

As his words sounded, the conference room fell silent for a moment.

...

Finally, 6:00 PM.

Pinduoduo's official blog posted a new announcement. It didn't announce the total sales right away, but first released two sets of data.

"On the day of the 618 Shopping Festival, Pinduoduo platform's two top livestreaming rooms created single-day sales records of 10.5 billion and 8.5 billion respectively."

"Across the entire platform, hundreds of livestreaming rooms reached a total daily sales volume of 50 billion."

"At the same time, on the day of the 618 Shopping Festival, the number of Pinduoduo ordering users exceeded 500 million!"

Once these sets of data came out, practitioners in the entire e-commerce industry were silent for a full few minutes.

50 billion.

The sales from the livestreaming rooms alone had already exceeded JD.com's entire platform's full-day performance for the 618 Shopping Festival!

And the number of 500 million ordering users made people unable to react.

It had been less than a month since Pinduoduo changed its name from Pinhaohuo, and this user activity was enough to make anyone's back feel cold in front of any e-commerce platform.

Although most people were clear.

A considerable proportion of these 500 million ordering users were likely here for the Multi-billion Subsidy and game collaboration items; these people might not necessarily continue to consume on Pinduoduo.

But even.

If you remove this portion of one-time users, Pinduoduo's core active user scale is probably two or three hundred million or even higher.

For a time, a large number of messages poured into the comment section.

"50 billion is just from livestreaming. Adding the total sales of ordinary products, it must be more than this number."

"500 million ordering users is also too exaggerated. I remember Taobao's monthly active users are only 900 million, right?"

"Who said last time that Pinduoduo is a sinking market software? Come out and walk a few steps. High-end digital products, brand beauty products, game skins—which one is exclusive to the sinking market?"

However, there were also many people asking in the comment section.

"Why haven't you announced the total battle report yet."

"50 billion from livestreaming, what about adding ordinary products? Hasn't it been calculated in an hour?"

Everyone was waiting.

Finally, 8:00 PM.

Pinduoduo's official blog issued the final battle report.

"On the day of the 618 Shopping Festival, Pinduoduo's total sales across all categories reached 220 billion."

"Setting a record and topping the 618 Shopping Festival sales champion list!"