E-commerce Festival:a Party or a Robbery?

Super star concerts， grassland music festival and high-tech carnival…these are all events held by Taobao Creation Festival， which was inaugurated on July， 22nd，2016. This is another festival created by Alibaba since the 11.11 shopping festival.

What makes this creation festival different from 11.11 is that its all about offline trend and fashion. To some de- gree， it implicates that Alibaba e-commerce is seeking more space off line. Dong Benhong， CMO of Alibaba， described the spirit of creation is what Taobao tried to show to the world. Through making creation festivals， he hopes that the world will see the creativity of Chinese youth.

It happens that there was a similar case on July， 24th. Zhu Bajie website officially released the first service e-commerce festival of entrepreneur： Free Day on Aug.8， which means that entrepreneur in China can get 100，000 free enterprise service on the day of Aug.8. It aims to provide supports to 100，000 startup enterprises. Zhu Mingyue， founder and CEO of Zhu Bajie website， pointed out that the internet is the main stream nowadays and e-commerce creation festivals have become a trend. As the model of serving e-commerce， Zhu Baijie website released discounts of real object e-commerce during its tenth anniversary， which created a free service party for entrepreneurs.

11.11 ， 12.12 together with Jingdong 618…started an endless journey of e-commerce enterprises creation festivals. Use festivals when theres already one， create festivals when theres none. It has become a golden rule of e-commerce industry addicted in creating internet festivals. The most watched focus of e-commerce festival creation is the lifeless trading data， which represents a party of cash. As is tested by the time， e-commerce festival creation is really a party or robbery？ Maybe only consumers have the right answers. They have got their adjustments.

Crazy Festival Creation Movement of E-commerce

57.1 billion yuan， this was what Alibaba earned in 11.11 shopping festival last year. However， six years ago the sales promotion only earned 0.5 billion yuan. No one has ever expected it to grow into such an online shopping party of the whole people in China today.

11.11 shopping party happens by chance. In mid-toend of 2009， Zhang Yong， the then Taobao （predecessor of Tmall.com） president and his team was planning a carnival style online shopping festival for brands in Taobao. They chose November because it was between the national holiday golden week and Christmas sales. People usually buy winter clothes during this season.

However， there was no festival in November but only a teasing festival for single people on Nov. 11th. Then the idea of encouraging single people to buy more came to Zhang Yong.

It seems that there is no plot for this story. However， it actually shows how e-commerce enterprises start their rapid acquisitions. 11.11 shopping party was like a gunshot， announcing the starting of a crazy creation festival creation movement of the internet.

Added to conventional festivals such as spring fes- tival， mid autumn festival and national holiday， Jingdong 6·18 shop celebration， Alibabas successor of 11.11 and 12.12 shopping party， and Suning&Gome anniversary celebration are all festivals created by e-commerce industry. Festival creation has gradually become a crucial part of internet marketing. Nearly all internet enterprises hope to create festival similar to 11.11 led by Alibaba.

In the latest raised O2O industry， various festivals released by each internet e-commerce enterprise have dazzled consumers eyes. Since the 11.11 sales promotion festival made outstanding achievements， e-commerce enterprisesfestival creation has become a general mood. It seems that these creators have no sense of existence if they dont release several festivals or give rounds of discounts in a year.

To see from these series of shopping festivals， creating festivals has gradually become a voluntary action of e-commerce enterprises. It bears great autonomy and glamour. This autonomy ensures the absolute profits of e-commerce enterprises in specific periods. The consumers enthusiasm is also aroused. However， in the eyes of sensible consumers， festivals released are just marketing skills plotted to- gether by these internet e-commerce enterprises. The festival creation has also shown many drawbacks. It can turn into a robbery if any carelessness happens. Three to five large scale festivals released in a year is already enough. To create excessive festivals will only make consumers tired of similar festivals， which will reduce their incentives to purchase things.

What is worth mentioning is that most of the discount slogans just carry too far. It seems that as long as it is festival created by e-commerce enterprises， the slogans of discounting， clearing up goods or last chance all try to make an atmosphere of giving consumers huge profits.

Actually， some products are just cheap on the surface. The merchants use sales skills such as take 60 yuan off when 300 yuan is reached to raise the discount standards.Thus， consumers have to buy more stuff at higher prices with the feeling of getting discounts. When consumers feel tires of this kind of sales promotion skills， the festival creation will turn into a robbery. Harm will out weight profits.