China’s Singles’ Day Sales Top 1 Trillion Yuan Through Oct. 31 as Consumers Remain Cautious
Key Facts
Cumulative sales for China’s Singles’ Day shopping festival were slightly more than 1 trillion yuan through Oct. 31, close to the level recorded in the same period a year earlier, according to retail data platform Syntun, as cited by The Associated Press. This is the latest available tally ahead of the festival’s pivotal day on Nov. 11 and does not establish the final figure reported in another account of total sales. The campaign centers on Nov. 11 but begins weeks earlier, spreading shopping and discounts over a longer period than a single day. The festival is viewed as a gauge of the broader economy, offering a way to track sales performance across multiple platforms and categories. The reading matters amid caution among Chinese consumers and as investors await other data to assess the strength of domestic demand.
The October tally puts sales on a track close to the previous year through that date, but on its own it does not determine the outcome of the full season. Syntun had estimated 2025 festival sales at about 1.7 trillion yuan, an increase of nearly 18%, while the increase was about 27% in 2024, according to The Associated Press. The discount period in 2025 also lasted about an additional week compared with the previous year, making year-over-year comparisons of total sales less direct. The news agency said the longer sales window makes annual comparisons imperfect, even as it expands the period in which platforms can record purchases. The pre-Nov. 11 tally therefore remains a provisional cumulative figure, with a different significance from a final total covering the full campaign.
These figures come as consumers face pressures that have led them to rein in spending, according to The Associated Press. The agency attributed the caution to the ongoing property-market slump, sluggish wage growth and high unemployment among young Chinese. The president of consulting firm WPIC said the 2025 festival sent a positive signal about the consumer economy, and that strong participation and engagement, along with broad-based performance across categories, showed consumers continued to spend. He added: "The longer sales window makes year-over-year comparisons imperfect, but the underlying indicators, from strong participation and high engagement to broad-based category strength, show that consumers are still spending." The assessment points to continued spending while underscoring the difficulty of drawing a precise year-over-year trend from a season whose duration has changed.
In foreign trade, China’s trade surplus was $105.3 billion in October, down from $133.5 billion in September, according to The Associated Press. But the surplus for the first 10 months of 2026 reached $1.04 trillion, topping the $1 trillion mark for the second consecutive year. Exports rose 35.2% year over year in October, while imports increased 41.6%, the agency said. Faster import growth helped narrow the monthly surplus despite the strong rise in exports. The data provide parallel economic context for the festival tally, but measure foreign trade and are not equivalent to a gauge of domestic consumer spending.
On prices, non-food prices in China rose 1.5% year over year in October, while food prices fell 2.9%, according to official data cited by China’s State Council. The divergence reflects differing movements among price components during the month, while the inflation measure remains separate from actual sales recorded during the shopping campaign. With the campaign past its pivotal day on Nov. 11, the festival’s final tally remains the figure that will determine total sales recorded for this edition. The length of the discount window also remains a factor to consider when comparing the total with previous seasons, after the 2025 campaign lasted about an additional week compared with the previous year. Syntun’s reading through Oct. 31 points to activity close to the comparable period a year earlier, while leaving the final spending trajectory unresolved.