Although Taobao, Tmall and JD.com are three of China’s biggest online marketplaces, they aren’t the only options for businesses looking to enter China’s eCommerce space.

Integrated with Tmall, Juhuasuan is a leading daily deals marketplace that serves as an alternative avenue for Taobao and Tmall merchants to market their products, using flash sales and promotions to acquire new customers and raise brand awareness.

There’s also Suning.com, which sells a broad range of products, specializing in home appliances, books and household commodities, and has also turned its attention to automated retail, such as its unmanned ‘Biu’ stores.

For businesses interested in discount selling, Vipshop offers vendors an innovative eCommerce model which combines discounts on famous brands, limited time offers and a genuine product guarantee.

Then, there’s Dangdang, which originally focused on selling books and audio-visual material, but has since expanded to sell a wide range of products online.

This list isn’t definitive by any means - there are plenty of options when it comes to Chinese online marketplaces - but you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one platform: businesses need to compete on different eCommerce platforms in the same way that they have stores in different shopping malls.

Some platforms also have their own online shopping festivals to drive sales. These are major online events where many marketplaces and businesses offer significant discounts and deals on their products and services.

Alibaba’s Double 11 Shopping Festival, also known as ‘Singles’ Day’, is China’s most prominent shopping event. It began as a small-scale promotion organized by Taobao on November 11th, way back in 2009, where the number of participating merchants was limited, but sales were far higher than expected. Now an annual event, Alibaba's mega sale has become the biggest online shopping day in the world, far exceeding the sales seen on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US.

Then there’s the Double 12 Festival, also established by Alibaba, which runs on December 12th and acts as an end of year sale for many marketplaces, with discounts offered across a variety of products and services.

Meanwhile, eCommerce giant JD.com also rolls out promotions every year on its birthday, known as the 618 Festival. Falling on June 18th, it’s now been adopted by many other marketplaces as well, becoming the second biggest shopping festival in the world. In 2021, JD.com reported a gross merchandise value of over 340 billion yuan during the event - equivalent to over 53 billion dollars.

Shopping Festivals