@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@ - +<br>By Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh<br> <br>BEIJING, June 20 (Reuters) - High-end home appliances and camping gear were among Chinese shoppers' most sought after buys during the "618" shopping festival, according to e-commerce platforms, in a sign of how China's COVID-19 curbs are driving lifestyle changes.<br> <br>The event was the first major shopping festival to take place since several Chinese cities, including Shanghai, were hit by a series of lockdowns to halt the spread of COVID-19.<br> <br>[https://www.biggerpockets.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&term=Consumption Consumption] in China remains weak as shoppers were confined to their homes in Shanghai and other cities.<br><br>Retail sales slipped another 6.7% in May from a year earlier, on top of a 11.1% contraction the previous month.<br> <br>Sales for [https://www.search.com/web?q=e-commerce%20giant e-commerce giant] JD.com, which first created the event in 2004, grew at their slowest pace ever to hit 379.3 billion yuan ($56.74 billion) in a sign of how recent lockdowns and slowing economic conditions have hurt spending.<br> <br>Consumption in China remains weak with retail sales in May slipping 6.7% from a year earlier, on top of an 11.1% contraction the previous month.<br> <br>Still, JD.com said its sales of gaming projectors and 4K high-definition projectors increased 10 times during the event, while air fryers jumped five times.<br><br>Slim fridges - favoured by shoppers with small homes - saw sales triple from the previous year.<br> <br>"Due to the epidemic, some consumers saw their living space become smaller and this led them to spend some thought on adding some 'sparks' to their lives," said JD.com, in a post on its WeChat account on Sunday.<br> <br>Alibaba Group said that Italian luxury coffee machine brand La Marzocco saw a six-fold increase in sales on the first day of its Tmall marketplace's 618 event compared with the previous year.<br> <br>The platforms also reported a surge in sales for camping gear and outdoor equipment, fuelled by the growing popularity of outdoor activities especially among city-dwellers who have had to endure two years of restrictive pandemic curbs.<br> <br>Camping-related products more than tripled in terms of sales on Tmall during its first round of 618 sales from the evening of May 31 to June 3, Alibaba said, with a new 2022 series of fishing reel by Japanese high-end fishing gear brand Daiwa, priced at more than 5,000 yuan, selling out within seconds.<br> <br>In addition, rising health awareness during the pandemic also pushed people to stockpile health products, JD. If you adored this article and also you would like to get more info about [https://www.picnicgardenflushing.com/ rekomendasi tempat liburan] generously visit the web site. com said, citing surging sales of organic milk, high-end teas and fitness drinks.<br><br>($1 = 6.6871 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh)<br><br>adverts.addToArray({"pos":"inread_player"})Advertisement