Quiet Double 11: Dong Yuhui, Luo Yonghao, and Li Jiaqi Exit as AI Takes Center Stage

Deep News
Oct 20

This year's Double 11 has been unusually quiet. The familiar slogans like "deposit customers and final payment customers" have vanished, and grievances over "full discount math questions" on social media are absent. In mid-October, platforms such as 京東JD.com, 阿裏巴巴Alibaba, and Douyin began launching their 2025 Double 11 campaigns, but public reaction has been surprisingly muted. Instead, terms like "official price drop," "no threshold coupons," and "instant discounts" have taken their place. On the surface, Double 11 has become boring; however, on a deeper level, its significance has increased. After years of no longer disclosing GMV, major streamers have exited, AI has stepped in, and instant retail has infiltrated, shifting the competition among platforms from promotional strategies to AI technology and ecosystem layout.

The event is evolving from just a sales festival into a testing ground for the next round of e-commerce competition.

**Simplified Rules, Extended Cycles**

There’s a consensus among major platforms regarding the rules: simplifying the mechanisms and extending the duration. 京東JD.com has initiated "official price drops" with discounts as low as 10%, eliminating order threshold requirements. Douyin has introduced "instant discount on one item" and is deploying consumption vouchers, moving away from complex stacking promotions. 阿裏巴巴Alibaba promotes itself with the slogan "best prices of the year" and retains only "official price reductions starting at 15%" and "cross-store discounts as options."

These actions reflect platforms' reassessment of user psychology—consumers no longer wish to "do math problems to earn money" but prefer "paying for what they see." Significant changes are evident in time strategies as well. 京東JD.com has extended its core period to 37 days, Douyin started a 57-day run from September 16, while 阿裏巴巴Alibaba has extended it to November 14. This extended timeline alleviates logistics and customer service pressure but may also lead to user attention fatigue.

Membership systems are transitioning from "volume expansion tools" to "retention tools." 京東JD.com PLUS emphasizes discount stacking and logistics privileges, while Tmall's 88 VIP offers offline dining and movie rights, providing daily 50% coupons in the flash purchase channel. Financial reports indicate that membership purchase frequency is surpassing that of new customers, and platforms are beginning to prioritize "LTV (Lifetime Value)" over GMV.

From a consensus standpoint, Double 11 no longer relies on "shopping festivals" to drive impulsive consumption; it is starting to assess "user stickiness" and "supply-demand efficiency" within commercial systems.

**Douyin Adjusts Its Strategy, Alibaba Alters Its Ecosystem**

With a shared industry consensus, platforms are betting in different arenas while safeguarding their fundamentals. 京東JD.com continues to rely on its 3C home appliances as a stabilizing force. Initial data shows that orders in categories such as home appliances, mobile phones, digital products, and computers have increased by over 70% year-on-year. Rather than just discounting, 京東JD.com is reinforcing its long-term assets of "genuine products, delivery, and after-sales service."

Douyin, on the other hand, is shifting from goods selling livestreams to brand-led broadcasting. According to the "2025 Douyin E-commerce Store Broadcasting Trend Report," brand-led broadcasts accounted for 30% of GMV over the past year, with only 9 top-streamers remaining. This indicates a decentralization of content commerce, with top streamers' bargaining power being diluted by brands establishing their own platforms.

Regarding 阿裏巴巴Alibaba, at a press conference when faced with Yi Lijun's sharp question about the necessity of Double 11's existence, officials hinted at a potential structural shift. In other words, starting this year, 阿裏巴巴Alibaba will no longer center solely on e-commerce GMV but aims to integrate dining, retail, and local living into a unified business ecosystem. Tmall officials reported that Taobao Flash Sale has achieved "30-minute delivery," with the first batch of 37,000 brands and 400,000 stores accessing the "hourly delivery" service, and the collaboration frequency between Tmall Supermarket and Ele.me has significantly increased. This represents a new definition of "online shopping"—shifting from warehouse distribution to immediate city inventory delivery.

The underlying logic of this shift is that as shelf-based e-commerce loses incremental value, 阿裏巴巴Alibaba is attempting to redefine user entry points through connections across instant consumption, content, and local services while searching for new growth.

**Streamers Exit, AI Takes Over**

If platforms can still maneuver within the realm of rules and ecosystems, changes in the flow systems are nearly irreversible: top streamers are stepping back, and AI is stepping in. The usual traffic engines of past Double 11s—Li Jiaqi, Dong Yuhui, and Luo Yonghao—have nearly all gone quiet at the same time. Li Jiaqi unusually admitted during a livestream that "the pressure has reached its limit"; Dong Yuhui's team has only released a handful of short clips; and Luo Yonghao's "Offering Friends" has kept only its brand collaborations. However, this does not signify a disappearance of excitement but rather a transfer of control from streamers back to AI technology frameworks.

In conversations with media outlets such as NetEase Technology, Alibaba's President of Search and Voice Intelligence in the China E-commerce Division, Kev, elaborated on Taobao's AI strategy. He noted that 阿裏巴巴Alibaba has developed a three-tiered large model: the first layer focuses on infrastructure, redefining products and descriptions; the second layer involves tools and customer service for merchants; and the third layer addresses user needs, such as AI recommendation lists to lower clothing return rates. This reflects not just functional innovation but a shift in power structure: where users previously relied on search bars and recommendation flows to access Taobao, the introduction of AI now serves as a "demand translator" and "matching agent" between users and systems.

E-commerce authority is transitioning from "shelf layout" to "model weight." However, technological transformation also brings new risks. Homogeneity in AI-generated content leads to user fatigue, regulatory boundaries for digital humans in livestreams are still emerging, and some small to medium merchants are facing challenges with the mantra of "no traffic without AI usage"—creating a new digital divide.

Nonetheless, most platforms still view AI as the sole direction for e-commerce evolution. This year, Double 11 stands out for being "unobtrusive," as the e-commerce sector enters an era of infrastructure competition: platforms are not competing based on GMV but on who achieves higher supply-demand matching efficiency; streamers are no longer central but are ecological nodes; and AI serves as the foundational language rather than a gimmick. This year’s Double 11 is not just a shopping carnival; it's a systemic examination.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10