Online sales run wild as JD promos draw competition

Online sales reached a fever pitch Tuesday as more sellers got involved in a head-to-head competition with JD.com, which has instigated a price war with its sales promotions to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

At the end of May this year, JD.com declared that it would run a mass promotion including price cuts and coupons between Monday and Wednesday of this week.

To fight back, competing websites launched a raft of advertising on various news portals. 51buy.com, a website under qq.com, one of China's largest instant messaging service providers, said that any consumer who finds any product priced higher on its website than on JD.com will get reward points that can be used for future purchases.

Dangdang.com also declared a price cut for June, and Tmall.com said it will subsidize consumers with 200 million yuan ($32.6 million) in coupons, and also input 200 million yuan to subsidize hot products and sellers. Suning.com has announced a five-day promotion from Monday to Friday.

According to a report from China e-Business Research Center, there are 12 large-scale e-commerce websites conducting promotions in June in addition to JD.com.

According to a note from JD.com sent to the Global Times Tuesday, their sales through Tuesday at 10 am were up 50 percent over Monday. On Monday, the sales of computers exceeded 200 million yuan, and more than 10,000 digital cameras were sold.

"In the past, online sellers tried to woo consumers with low prices, but from now on they are putting their profits first," Chen Shousong, an independent analyst, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Liu Qian, a woman in Beijing, told the Global Times that she is a fan of JD.com, especially for digital products. She and her colleagues have spent thousands of yuan during this round of promotions.

However, insiders warn that more online promotions are expected in the future, which may fatigue consumers.

In August last year, a price war erupted between three Chinese giants, Suning Appliance, Gome Electrical Appliances, and 360buy Jingdong Mall, as JD.com was formerly known.

One month later, however, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency, criticized the companies for cheating online shoppers with the "price wars," and accused them of fabricating original prices to fool consumers about their promotions.