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The pace of the 618 shopping festival is accelerating.

At 8 p.m. on May 13th, the first wave of pre - sales for Tmall's 618 shopping festival kicked off. From 8 p.m. on May 16th to 12 a.m. on May 26th, the payment of the balance and the rush - buying of in - stock items will be available. Behind the changes of earlier pre - sales and an advanced schedule, a strong signal is sent out: the certainty of business comes from earlier and more meticulous preparations. For merchants, this is both a challenge and the core leverage point to drive growth in the new cycle of the big promotion.

From an overall macro perspective, the consumer market is showing a steady recovery trend. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, in the first quarter of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.6% year - on - year, and the online retail sales increased by 7.9% year - on - year, among which the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 5.7%.

Looking back at last year, the e - commerce industry showed a stable and positive development in a complex environment. Especially during big promotion events such as the 618 and Double 11 shopping festivals, it delivered good results. The consumption demand in multiple categories continued to be released, and the overall growth was relatively stable. Taking the 618 shopping festival as an example, in 2024, a total of 365 brands achieved over 100 million yuan in sales on Tmall's 618, and more than 36,000 brands doubled their sales, making it the biggest business boom in the first half of the year.

It is a well - recognized industry phenomenon that the performance in big promotions often determines the upper and lower limits of a merchant's annual business growth. This means that the 618 shopping festival, as the mid - year exam for e - commerce, remains important. It is not only worth doing but also worth doing well.

The prerequisite for "doing it well" is to find the right entry point. In this big exam, some bet on low prices, some increase investment in content, and some seek the explosion of new products. However, all of these should be based on the fundamental dimension of "people".

Big promotions are not only a period of concentrated business explosion but also an entrance for concentrated traffic. For brands, such a node does not only mean a peak in transactions but also a strategic opportunity to expand the customer base and penetrate into cross - categories. During big promotions, users are more likely to be inspired to try new things, and the concentrated release of platform resources also gives brands the opportunity to reach people who are difficult to reach on a daily basis. Therefore, during the 618 period, which is a window period for targeting specific groups of people, doing business centered around "people" is of greater strategic value than ever.

"The Internet makes it valuable to serve every niche group." This is the long - tail theory that has been verified by practice. In today's era of population segmentation, refined needs, and diverse purchase motivations, the initiative for growth has long shifted from "those who have more traffic" to "those who can identify the most suitable people".

Against this background, Alimama released the "Alimama 618 Business Blue Book: Industry Population Investment Guide" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guide"), which refocuses brand growth on "people" and provides an industry - specific population management methodology from targeting, new customer acquisition to follow - up investment with AI capabilities at the core. Through this guide, brands can not only understand "who to target for advertising" but also understand "how to manage specific groups of people in the long term".

01. Understanding the target audience is the primary step to win the 618 battle

Today's consumers can no longer be defined by a single dimension.

From the brand's perspective, contemporary consumers are a mixture of rationality and sensibility: they value cost - performance and are also willing to pay for experiences and attitudes; they may pay for a well - designed product or queue up for a popular item; they attach importance to functional needs and also emphasize aesthetics, experience, and self - identity. This complex and mixed consumption psychology makes it extremely uncertain for brands to formulate marketing strategies.

During big promotion periods, this uncertainty is particularly prominent. In the past, brands could achieve a concentrated business explosion on the 618 day through large - scale exposure and attractive discounts. However, with the earlier schedule of platform promotions and the normalization of marketing activities, consumer behavior has shown obvious wave - like characteristics.

The "Guide" points out that during the 618 period, the population shows stronger "stratification + time - sharing" characteristics. Especially for the high - value marketing population on Taobao platforms, their activity fluctuations are more obvious throughout the period. Different groups such as Generation Z, people with both money and leisure time, urban white - collars, and 88VIP users show different content consumption habits and purchase rhythms in different waves, which makes population management more like a "phased combined battle".

Alimama's solution is very clear: using AI as the key to unlock the full - link strategy of "targeting - reaching - follow - up investment". With the support of its self - developed large - scale model, its AI population targeting ability is no longer limited to static labels. Instead, it can achieve accurate identification of the entire population both inside and outside the platform, acquire new customers in a differentiated way, and optimize follow - up investment through dynamic semantic analysis and real - time behavior learning.

During the just - ended March 8th promotion, its AI population targeting ability was fully demonstrated and verified. For example, the annual Queen&King consumer population provided by Alimama's Damo Data Platform was recognized by both brands and the market. During the March 8th promotion, Dreame discovered through the Damo Data Platform that this population package highly resembled its core customer profile and applied it to the core promotion of its new floor cleaner, the H40 Ultra. The final results were remarkable. In the content marketing scenario, the CTR increased by 250% compared with the average of the same - period plan, and the ROI increased by 27%.

Based on this, Alimama launched two new types of population packages during this year's 618: the "Most Series Population Package" with AI - driven dynamic optimization and the "Interest Population Package" based on large - scale model semantic analysis, corresponding to highly active users and in - depth niche users on Taobao platforms respectively. These population packages can be updated dynamically on a daily basis and can be flexibly adapted to advertising scenarios both inside and outside the platform, becoming the "algorithmic fulcrum" for brands to improve new customer acquisition efficiency and advertising certainty.

On the other hand, corresponding to the earlier schedule of big promotions, in previous years, users who made purchases during the 618 shopping festival usually started to be active in searching, favoriting, and adding items to their shopping carts as early as April and May. Whether brands can detect these "early signals" in advance and reach the right people at the right time is the key to certainty.

Therefore, early layout, accurate customer accumulation, and timely recall are far more stable than making a last - ditch effort on the night of the promotion. Alimama uses its AI population targeting ability to create an operation radar for brands based on data and centered around specific groups of people, helping brands find the right rhythm in the wave - like promotion schedule and take the initiative.

This approach of "understanding the target audience" in advance is essentially a technological implementation of Peter Drucker's view that "the essence of an enterprise is to create customers". When "people" are structurally understood and continuously managed, brands can achieve real long - term compound interest.

02. Investing in the target audience of four major industries to drive full - link growth
 

Currently, the target audience is not only a variable in marketing but also an entry point for business growth. For merchants, understanding the value of "people" should not stop at a temporary deduction for a single promotion.

It is worth noting that the "Guide" not only provides trend insights but also a practical methodology. Alimama provides AI - driven population management models and suggestions for four key industries: sports and outdoor, apparel, fast - moving consumer goods, and home - use 3C products, from multiple dimensions such as industry structure, population motivation, and platform behavior paths, outlining a full - link operation map that is strongly coupled with industry characteristics for merchants.

Specifically, first, the sports and outdoor industry, which has been booming in recent years with the rise of the health trend, shows a trend of niche - based population characteristics. Users' purchase decisions highly depend on interest niches and scene fit. Behind niche scenarios such as cycling, fitness, and mountain climbing, there is a group of target customers with high loyalty, long cognitive paths, and a preference for content consumption. These consumers usually show "high attention but low conversion" in the early stage, but once their minds are set, their conversion efficiency is significantly better than the overall market.

In response, the "Guide" suggests: first understand users' passions and then embrace their enthusiasm. According to these characteristics, merchants can divide the 618 promotion into three - stage strategies: during the customer accumulation period, focus on "acquiring new customers and planting product interests", building awareness through off - platform UD brand promotion, Taobao product planting, and Taobao app splash screens; during the conversion period, concentrate resources to promote the main products, focusing on advertising products such as TopShow, Brand Special Show, and Super Live to activate first - time and repeat purchases; during the tail - end period, aim to recall the accumulated customers through interest - based strategies, promote immediate conversion of the population through Super Live, and at the same time, promote products across the entire platform to extend the sales effect.

Image source: "Alimama 618 Business Blue Book: Industry Population Investment Guide"

Secondly, the challenges in the apparel industry are more complex. On the one hand, the changing seasons and fashion trends lead to frequent changes in user needs; on the other hand, style preference is one of the core decision - making factors for consumers when purchasing clothing. The traditional model that relied on promoting single styles is gradually becoming ineffective, and brands need to be more sensitive to style trends and population dynamics.

Spring and summer are the peak seasons for new product launches and the window period for rapid trend dissemination. The "Guide" points out that 88VIP users are the main driving force for sales in Tmall's apparel and fashion industry, accounting for more than 40% of the sales during the 618 promotion last year. This group of high - value customers is extremely sensitive to "style preferences". With the addition of AI capabilities, brands can pre - target the corresponding "trend population" based on users' browsing habits, content interactions, and style preferences, and lock in the collection and addition - to - cart intentions of this high - value marketing population through in - and out - platform product planting; in the middle stage, promote the conversion of high - intention customers back to Taobao through UD brand promotion and Brand Special Show; in the later stage, focus on promoting the associated repeat purchases of style - based product categories with the support of certain traffic, and achieve long - term operation of the trend population.

Image source: "Alimama 618 Business Blue Book: Industry Population Investment Guide"

Thirdly, the essence of the fast - moving consumer goods category is high - frequency but scattered consumption. Brands often face a wide - ranging target population with low loyalty and limited content attractiveness, which makes the conversion path highly dependent on entry efficiency and repeated exposure. Under such circumstances, how to build a mechanism that can continuously "lock in, recall, and promote conversion" through population label decomposition and path integration has become the key for brands to break through.

In fact, the role of AI in this process is not to simply replace decision - making but to continuously refresh the target products and advertising strategies during the advertising period. The "Guide" mentions that the fast - moving consumer goods industry focuses on full - platform product planting to consolidate new customers and further stimulate repeat purchases from high - frequency buyers. In the early stage, use new and trendy products as the core to complete brand awareness exposure through UD brand promotion and TopShow, and accumulate customers by intercepting off - platform users entering Taobao, and strengthen brand awareness through the "Super Brand Zone"; in the middle stage, focus on new and popular products to achieve accurate customer reception through Super Short Videos and keyword promotion; in the later stage, focus on recovering potential products and closing sales of popular products, and efficiently recall consumers through full - platform advertising and live - streaming, achieving a closed - loop model of "off - platform planting and in - platform harvesting". It is worth noting that for the fast - moving consumer goods industry with strong product - oriented goals, it is necessary to seize the opportunity to activate and promote full - platform traffic for products and continuously invest during the pre - middle - and post - periods of the 618 promotion.

Image source: "Alimama 618 Business Blue Book: Industry Population Investment Guide"

Finally, the home - use 3C industry features high - priced products and a long decision - making cycle. Consumers usually rely on comprehensive information such as content education, price strategies, and function comparisons to make decisions, and it is difficult to drive sales with a single method. This means that brands need to first help users build "decision - making willingness" and then use platform resources to promote "decision - making conversion".

Meanwhile, this year, the home appliance industry benefits from the "national subsidy" policy and frequent launches of new products by brands, which makes it more necessary for brands to refine their target population structure. Brands should use AI targeting capabilities to accurately refine the high - value marketing population, build awareness through off - platform exposure and product education in the early stage, receive potential customers through keyword promotion and TopShow in the middle stage, and achieve the conversion explosion of high - potential users through ShowMax and full - platform product promotion in the later stage. Against the background of a longer promotion period and a significant tail - end effect, 3C brands need an AI - driven path of "accurate identification - continuous follow - up investment - repeated recall" to ensure a complete closed - loop from awareness to purchase.

Chart source: "Alimama 618 Business Blue Book: Industry Population Investment Guide"

Overall, Alimama released the "Guide" not only to help merchants seize the opportunities of the 618 promotion but also to build a replicable and sustainable population management model for them, which is the blood - supply mechanism for the entire business growth system.

The key lies in the transformation of population assets from advertising targets to managed assets. The change from "targeting advertising audiences" to "managing customer groups" represents a transition from a traffic - based logic to an asset - based logic.

When AI helps brands understand, target, and retain customers, merchants will have a continuous source of vitality for full - link operations such as marketing, operation, membership management, product decision - making, and content creation, and a complete growth closed - loop will truly begin to be established.

Perhaps this is what Alimama wants to convey.

03. The 618 shopping festival is the real - world battlefield for AI - driven business operations

"The core of future business is to establish a connection with each individual." This was Kevin Kelly's prediction more than twenty years ago.

As consumption enters a period of structural reshaping, the relationship between brands and users is quietly changing. From "competing