China’s major e-commerce companies, from JD.com to Alibaba Group Holding, are rushing to take advantage of Beijing’s latest subsidies aimed at spurring consumer spending at the start of the year.
Tmall, Alibaba’s premium shopping site carrying mainly established brands, on Wednesday kicked off new subsidies for shoppers buying home appliances.
Rival JD.com on the same day launched a similar campaign allowing consumers in some provinces including Hubei, Hunan and Jiangsu to purchase eligible home appliances using government subsidies.
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Both platforms are among the earliest to join the central government’s renewed trade-in programme, as they engage in a heated battle with fast-rising e-commerce competitors such as PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and ByteDance‘s Douyin to woo consumers.
Alibaba and its rival JD.com face strong competition from younger e-commerce players such as PDD Holdings and ByteDance. Photo: Shutterstock Images alt=Alibaba and its rival JD.com face strong competition from younger e-commerce players such as PDD Holdings and ByteDance. Photo: Shutterstock Images>
China last year introduced its home appliance trade-in scheme, offering each local consumer a rebate of up to 2,000 yuan (US$274) per item. Eligible products include refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, air conditioners, computers, water heaters, household stoves, and range hoods.
The renewed programme in 2025 enables consumers who already claimed subsidies last year to receive new rebates. Policymakers plan to expand the scope of eligible items to consumer electronics devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers and smart wearables, according to an official from the National Development and Reform Commission on Friday.
The project forms part of Beijing’s broader efforts to motivate spending and stimulate the economy. As households locked up more of their savings in bank deposits, retail sales in China saw just a 3 per cent year-on-year increase in November, which marked the slowest pace of growth in three months, according to the latest official data.
Property investment continued to drag, falling by 10.4 per cent in the first 11 months.
When the trade-in programme was rolled out in 2024, Tmall and JD.com were also among the first e-commerce platform operators to quickly launch special landing pages, making it easier for shoppers to browse product listings and use the subsidies when placing orders.
During last year’s Singles’ Day sales events, both companies reported strong sales, particularly in the home appliance category.
Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall said 139 home appliance and furniture brands – including Haier, Midea Group and Dyson – each raked in 100 million yuan in gross merchandise value during the month-long campaign. JD.com touted strong participation in the trade-in programme, with users from over 90 per cent of rural and county-level regions taking part.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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