China’s E-Commerce Discount Race to the Bottom Puts Incumbents Under Pressure

Discount e-commerce is set to dominate globally during the critical upcoming holiday shopping season in the West and Singles’ Day in China, analysts said.

Platforms in China, the world’s largest e-commerce market, have recently described a “value-for-money battle” stoked by economic insecurity and a slower-than-expected retail recovery following the lifting of Covid-19 curbs late last year.

In much of the rest of the world, meanwhile,…