618 mid-year promotion sees purchasing potential from lower-tier cities

The curtain falls on the bustling 618 nationwide e-commerce festival, which was flooded with discount calculation and promotional campaigns. The initiator of the annual online shopping carnival, as well as the retailer giant JD, has reportedly harvested a record RMB 201.5 billion (around $29.2 billion) in sales from June 1 to 18, while its major rival, Alibaba backed Tmall, revealed less informative revenue data. Though JD is endeavoring on high-quality and pricier imported goods selling this year, it sees a growing trend of consumption driven by lower-tier cities, among which sixth-tier cities rank the top.