THE NEW NORMAL

Silver economy shines brightly as Singles' Day 2023 approaches

THE NEW NORMAL

Silver economy shines brightly as Singles' Day 2023 approaches

INTRODUCTION

Singles’ Day, or Double 11, is celebrating 15 years as China’s marquee shopping festival. Double 11 2023 is especially crucial with consumption metrics a leading indicator of Chinese economic rebound as the country faces post-pandemic economic uncertainty.

AlixPartners has conducted an in-depth survey for the 6^th year of more than 2,000 consumers across multiple age groups, geographies, and demographics to track changes in consumer sentiment while exploring emerging trends. With China having the largest population of shoppers over 60 in the world, we delved specifically into the silver economy and shared advice on how retailers can connect with—and convert—this increasingly influential generation.

KEY FINDINGS

Consumer sentiment is picking back up with total spend exceeding that of 2022

Nearly half of respondents said they are likely to spend more this year as compared to last year.

Over 60% of consumers say they’ll spend at least CNY3,000 this year, up 11% YoY.

Rational consumption drives the search for quality over flashy promotion

83% of participants consider “brand authenticity” as the key criteria when choosing among products, followed by 82% who said “product functionality."

Only 46% viewed “livestreaming” as a promotional tactic that influenced their purchase decision.

Consumers are more proactive in researching across retailers and channels to identify the best value for money

Consumers seek the best bargains across multiple channels, from 4.1 channels on average last year to 5 channels this year, an increase of around 20%.

Tmall/Taobao (92%) and Jingdong (75%) remain the leading e-commerce platforms that consumers intend to purchase from on Double 11 this year.

Differentiation is key for foreign brands to compete with local rivals

Chinese brands continue to gain momentum as 66% of customers said they plan to increase spending on Chinese brands, while products originating from all 12 other surveyed countries and regions saw a net decrease in purchase intent.

Personal connection and word of mouth influence senior shoppers’ purchase decisions

Senior shoppers display a higher preference for more traditional marketing methods such as word-of-mouth / in-person recommendations (13 percentage points vs. overall population) and lucky draw (9 percentage points).

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of senior shoppers said they are heavily influenced by family and friend recommendations for their purchase decisions.