(Yicai) Nov. 27 -- Sales during this year’s Black Friday were sluggish and missed expectations, mainly because of the consumption environment and competition from emerging e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein, according to Chinese sellers on US e-commerce giant Amazon.

Black Friday will run from Nov. 18 to tomorrow on Amazon Europe and from Nov. 17 to today on Amazon US, the longest-ever promotional campaign. But longer promotions do not lead to booming sales.

Many sellers of household supplies, small home appliances, and daily necessities said this is their worst Black Friday. “Orders and sales did not boom, while advertising costs skyrocketed,” Ding Lingchao, assistant to general manager of a trade service firm in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, told Yicai.

Amazon’s annual promotional event Prime Day ended just before Black Friday this year, so most buyers suffered consumption fatigue, Ding noted, adding that longer promotions gave buyers more time to think, resulting in a less impulsive buying attitude.

A clothing merchant with sales of over USD10 million a year on Amazon told Yicai that his sales volume halved during this year’s Black Friday. The major reason behind this was the competition from emerging e-commerce sites, mainly Shein and Temu, the merchant noted.

Temu, the cross-border e-commerce platform of China’s Pinduoduo, started its Black Friday warm-up on Oct. 20. It offered discounts of as much as 90 percent, coupons of up to USD200, and three free commodities to buyers during Black Friday, Ding explained.

Even with Black Friday prices, commodities on Amazon are still more expensive than those on Temu without the discounts, said Zhu Qiucheng, chief executive of Ningbo New Oriental Industry and Trade.

“Amazon is not price sensitive, but it values quality and has stable consumers,” Zhu noted, adding that Temu is radical. Profits during Black Friday this year were much less than in previous years because of the low prices of the competition, Zhu pointed out.

Online budget fashion retailer Shein began promotions in the US on Nov. 13 and will end them today. TikTok Shop’s Black Friday will last from Oct. 27 to Nov. 30, while that of AliExpress from Nov. 20 to Nov. 29.

TikTok Shop said it funded sellers to offer discounts of up to 50 percent to attract more merchants to participate in its promotions during Black Friday.

AliExpress invested a lot in Black Friday promotions this year. The stock of AliExpress’ cross-border preferred warehouse before Black Friday was nearly 10 times that of last year, according to statistics from Cainiao’s international express delivery arm.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione