Double 11 Real-time Tracking: Kuaishou Sets New Single-Day GMV Record

At the beginning of the 2024 Double 11 shopping festival, there was a prevailing pessimistic sentiment in the market, suggesting that domestic demand was sluggish and that major promotions had largely become routine, making it difficult to stimulate new growth.

While this view seemed plausible, it has been disproven in reality. According to media reports: On October 19, Kuaishou's e-commerce officially kicked off its Double 11 shopping festival. By 8 PM on the first day, Kuaishou's single-day GMV hit a historic high, with a 90% increase compared to previous peaks. The number of million-GMV products from major brands surged by 480% compared to historical highs.

Clearly, the aforementioned pessimistic view does not apply to Kuaishou. Why is that?

First, the advantage of content-driven commerce continues, while shelf-based commerce sees explosive growth.

As a content platform, Kuaishou's ability to drive transactions through short videos and live streams has been repeatedly validated by the market, especially during major promotions. Consumers, immersed in a festive atmosphere, are more inclined to follow influencers and happily indulge in shopping sprees.

Meanwhile, the rise of the mall section has provided Kuaishou's e-commerce with additional momentum in shelf-based commerce. In the first half of this year, Kuaishou's monthly active buyers grew to 131 million, with the number of monthly active merchants increasing by over 60% year-on-year. Additionally, shelf-based GMV accounted for more than 25% of total GMV in Q2, with a 45% year-on-year increase during the 818 New Season promotion.

Kuaishou's record-breaking performance during this promotion is undoubtedly linked to the success of its shelf-based e-commerce. This year's Double 11 combines the explosive sales of content-driven commerce with doubled traffic support for the mall section.

In terms of operational strategies, Kuaishou has rolled out initiatives including but not limited to 20 billion in traffic subsidies, 2 billion in user red envelopes, and 1 billion in product subsidies to boost participation from both users and merchants. The shelf-based section introduced the "Million Hot Products" plan and "Big Brands, Big Discounts" campaign, covering over 2,200 brands and 2,500 categories this year.

Short videos, as a traffic source, are gradually cultivating users' shopping habits in shelf-based e-commerce. Major promotions like this serve as excellent opportunities, as evidenced by the rapid rise in shelf-based GMV during Q2, closely tied to the 618 shopping festival.

Second, where are Kuaishou's new opportunities?

From an investor's perspective, monetization rates and their impact on revenue are closely watched. From an operational standpoint, this actually leaves ample room for reform to address future uncertainties.

In terms of traffic allocation, Kuaishou emphasizes private traffic, which helps reduce operational costs for merchants and influencers. However, this comes at the expense of the platform's own profits. Simply put, the platform is currently adopting a strategy of sacrificing short-term profits to expand GMV scale.

After Double 11, if the path to GMV growth becomes clearer, the platform's value will become more apparent, and achievements previously overshadowed by financial reports will be recognized.

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