The news: Singles’ Day sales in China grew modestly this year, reflecting consumer caution and retailers’ reluctance to heavily tout their promotional efforts amid heightened government scrutiny.

• Gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 4.8% YoY to RMB 1.77 trillion ($245.6 billion), per Syntun.
• Growth on ecommerce platforms like Alibaba’s Tmall, JD, and Douyin was even slower, at 3.7% YoY, compared with 12.3% during last year’s sale—with the caveat that 2025’s Singles’ Day festival was five days longer than the previous year’s.

AI played a larger role in this year’s sale. Shoppers relied more on AI to help them find products and purchased more items embedded with AI, such as AI toys or companion robots.

• JD said that nearly 80 million active users used its AI shopping advisory tools and shopping consultation services during this year’s Singles’ Day sale, up more than 200% YoY. It also sold 50 million AI products during the period, including AI-enabled PCs, cameras, glasses, and recording devices.
• Alibaba pointed to a nearly fivefold increase YoY in sales of AI companion robots in the second half of October, although the company did not disclose the exact number sold.

The growing use of AI shopping assistants shows how the tech is influencing consumers and their buying. Demand for AI services, such as subscriptions to AI platforms and tokens, rose during the Singles’ Day period.

• Sales of AI tokens on Tmall jumped over 700% between October 15 and November 5 compared with the four-week period from September 15 to October 5.
• Chinese influencer Austin Li—better known as the “Lipstick King”—sold 100,000 monthly subscriptions to Alibaba’s QwenWork within half an hour during a Taobao livestream.

Consumers prioritized services over goods. Interest in AI subscriptions and tokens reflected a broader shift in spending from physical items to services. JD pointed to a sizable uptick in demand for housekeeping, pet-hair removal, and moving services, while travel platform Fliggy reported a 25% increase in travel spending from consumers ages 50 and older, per South China Morning Post.

That mirrors the broader state of Chinese consumer spending: Service sales grew 5% YoY in the first three quarters of 2026 while overall retail sales grew just 1.1%, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Implications for retail: The relatively subdued nature of this year’s Singles’ Day points to growing deal fatigue among Chinese consumers. Years of price wars coupled with steadily longer sales periods have made promotions like Singles’ Day both less exciting and less essential for deal-seeking consumers.

Much as in the US, Chinese consumers are more intentional about where they spend, prioritizing brands and products they believe offer the best value. Brands like Burberry, Coach, and Ralph Lauren have found success by offering products that are more affordable than luxury rivals but are high-quality and culturally relevant enough to be considered attractive investments.

• Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman said on the company’s latest earnings call that the brand’s focus on “enduring value and providing great value for money is resonating strongly” with Chinese shoppers, particularly younger consumers priced out of luxury labels like Dior and Louis Vuitton.
• Coach CEO Todd Kahn credited the brand’s attractive “price-value equation” in China for making it a compelling alternative to traditional European luxury brands, particularly for Gen Z shoppers looking to buy their first designer bag.
• As student Zhang Tong told Bloomberg, younger consumers no longer consider luxury goods to be status symbols—instead, “a fashionable design plus good value for money is cool.”

China may not be the growth engine it once was, but it remains an important market for brands and retailers that can give consumers reasons to spend, whether through better value or services that meet their needs. Companies that make an effort to understand the Chinese consumer and display that in their products and marketing stand a better chance of longevity—and are less likely to make culturally insensitive missteps that lead to boycotts.