(Yicai) Nov. 13 -- Sales across all e-commerce platforms during this year’s Double 11, a key fixture in China’s online shopping calendar, rose 4.8 percent from a year ago to almost CNY1.78 trillion (USD266.3 billion), with spending on services, hobbies, and pets surging, according to a report by Syntun, a market research provider specializing in China's e-commerce sector.

Consumer spending on services during the annual shopping festival, which officially concluded on Nov. 11, grew faster than that on goods, the report said, making services a new area of growth and competition for e-commerce platforms. Furthermore, online sales of services gained 5.3 precent in the first three quarters from a year earlier, while online product sales rose 3.8 percent, it said.

More than 300 million service-related orders were placed on JD.Com during Double 11, the e-commerce giant’s own data showed. Sales of housekeeping and cleaning packages jumped more than sixfold, home pet hair removal services soared 46 times, range hood cleaning more than tripled, and refrigerator cleaning climbed nearly sixfold.

JD.Com’s moving service has expanded to 12 Chinese cities, with orders nearly quadrupling. Sales of auto care services, door-to-door repair services for two-wheeled vehicles, and health services rose 167 percent, 140 percent, and 300 percent, respectively.

JoyExpress, JD.Com’s online retail business in Europe, launched Double 11 promotions for European consumers, with home appliance sales up more than ninefold, aided by related services.

A JoyExpress delivery rider in Germany said it delivered and installed products to five households on Nov. 10 alone. The “delivery plus installation” service covers not only specialty categories, such as solar panels, lawn mowers, and pool-cleaning robots, but also delivery, installation, removal, and recycling of old large home appliances such as televisions and washing machines.

Beyond services, spending on hobbies was also strong this year. Sales of smart perler bead boards exceeded CNY5 million (USD749,600), according to Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce site Taobao. One cosplay product sold more than 100,000 units. Pet owners stocked up on 43.6 million bags of cat food and 5.9 million bags of cat litter.

Consumers generally had a more rational approach to shopping during the course of the retail festival, which typically lasts for around a month to five weeks, said Guo Tao, angel investor and veteran artificial intelligence expert. Impulse buying and indiscriminate stockpiling fell noticeably, while shoppers routinely compared prices, checked details, and identified marketing gimmicks, he said.

While price sensitivity remains high for essential goods, the weight given to the overall consumer experience in the decision-making process is growing, Guo noted.

Consumers no longer focus solely on headline discounts, he said. They now scrutinize delivery times, return and exchange terms, after-sales commitments, and supplementary services as well. They also show a clear preference for straightforward, transparent price reductions over complicated discount schemes, Guo pointed out.

Editor: Futura Costaglione