10 Things To Know About the 2022 10.10 Shopping Festival: Special Deals Help Shoppers Weather Inflation Pressure

Introduction

This year, the third annual 10.10 Shopping Festival will again provide retailers with opportunities to showcase special deals, new products and compelling offerings. Participants—retailers and even charities—will be encouraged to engage with the hottest and fastest-growing sales medium in retail: livestreaming e-commerce. The festival will be focused on accelerating US consumer adoption of livestreaming.

The 10.10 Shopping Festival will continue to support the entire retail ecosystem. Consumers will benefit from a fun retail experience that combines livestream entertainment with charitable giving. In addition, retailers will benefit from increased traffic and pulling holiday shopping forward, while supporting partners will be able to assist retailers and donate to their preferred charities. Coresight Research is pleased to help partner charities boost their donations.

Background 

Coresight Research conceived the 10.10 Shopping Festival in June 2020 to bring fun and a spark of excitement to the retail industry during the pandemic at a time when many nonessential stores were still closed and unemployment was high. The inaugural four-day festival was held from October 9–12, 2020, and had 49 participating retailers and brands as well as the backing of 13 supporting partners, including technology firms, startups and industry bodies. In 2020, the event supported 13 charities.

In 2021, the 10.10 Shopping Festival had participation from 33 retailers, 28 of which hosted livestreaming sessions. The festival partnered with 14 charities. Two of those charities, Soles4Souls and National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), livestreamed to introduce their organizational mission and vision.

The 10.10 Shopping Festival: 10 Things To Know 

We present the 10 most important things to know about Coresight Research’s upcoming 10.10 Shopping Festival. 

1. The Shopping Festival Will Be a 12-Hour Livestreamed Event

The third annual 10.10 Shopping Festival will be a 12-hour livestreamed event on October 10, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. EDT. The festival aims to provide consumers with a fun online shopping experience online and the opportunity to give back this holiday season. Coresight Research will host the festival in partnership with innovative livestream shopping and shoppable video platforms. 

The festival will enable consumers to shop for themselves and others through shoppable videos. Coresight Research survey findings from February 2022 indicate that just 32.2% of US consumers have watched a shoppable livestream, indicating a huge opportunity in the online live-shopping space.

2. The Festival Partners with Industry Innovators

This year, Coresight Research has partnered with livestream shopping platform MARKET by Verb Technology Company (VERB), video-shopping SaaS (software-as-a-service) provider Bambuser and influencer commerce company Nillio to bring a livestreaming focus to the 10.10 Shopping Festival.

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Figure 1. 10.10 Shopping Festival: Partner Shopping Platforms

 

3. Charitable Giving Is a Central Theme

Charitable giving is a key theme for the 10.10 Shopping Festival. Retailers participating in the festival commit to donating a low-single-digit percentage of sales to the partner charity. Shoppers can also donate directly to the partner charity.

This year, the 10.10 Shopping Festival has three partner charities:

 

4. Brands and Retailers Across Multiple Sectors Are Participating

The 10.10 Shopping Festival features participating retailers across accessories, apparel, beauty, footwear, grocery, home goods, subscription e-commerce and resale. Some retailers are offering products featuring sustainable designs.

As of October 6, 2022, the 10.10 Shopping Festival’s participating retailers are as follows:

 

5. This Year’s 10.10 Festival Features More Jewelry Retailers and a Subscription E-Commerce Company

This year, Coresight Research has partnered with retailers including Jedora, JTV, Luxury In Reach and Sabika Jewelry to bring more jewelry and gemstone products into the event as well as facilitate brand discovery. These four retailers will livestream content through the festival’s supporting platforms, offering product recommendations and discounts. We estimate that US jewelry specialists’ sales will increase by 1.5%, year over year, overall in 2022, reaching $41.9 billion.

Another highlight this year is the participation of HelloFresh, the largest meal-kit provider in the US. We are seeing significant consumer demand for product-subscription services, including curated subscription boxes and replenishment services. Coresight Research expects the US subscription box market to grow 10% to $14.6 billion in 2022 and reach $21.8 billion in 2026.

6. The Festival Marks an Early Start to the Holiday Season

October presents a significant opportunity for retailers to get an early start to the holiday season. The 10.10 Shopping Festival provides a new platform for retailers to reach consumers, gain insights into their demands and desires, and ramp up holiday campaigns before November.

Supply chain pressures and pandemic-related uncertainty will make it more challenging and likely more expensive for retailers to deliver holiday purchases. By pulling forward holiday spending, retailers can better manage promotional spending, inventory and delivery while providing an enhanced customer experience.

Additionally, many consumers are still concerned about the safety of shopping experiences and are avoiding crowded shopping areas, a trend exacerbated by the end of the summer season. By participating in the 10.10 Shopping Festival, retailers can give customers an opportunity to make purchases while avoiding in-store traffic; the festival creates a retail holiday without the usual “holiday stress.”

7. 10 Is Inspired by the Success of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day (11.11)

The 10.10 Shopping Festival was inspired by the success of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day, also known as 11.11 or Double 11, which is the largest global shopping festival and generated $84.7 billion in sales in 2021.

Singles’ Day, which takes place annually in November, provides both a platform and an occasion to celebrate new brands. Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, was inspired by the collaborative platform of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day, as it ranges from small independent brands to large multinational companies. Shoppers often put items in their shopping carts, counting down the days until the festival begins, according to Weinswig, who wanted to put that kind of energy, fun and excitement back into shopping in the US with the 10.10 Shopping Festival.

8. Festivals Help To Drive Traffic and Sales

“Festivalizing” retail presents substantial opportunities for retailers to increase brand awareness and drive sales, particularly in periods of uncertainty. We expect shopping festivals to become bigger and longer to attract more participating consumers. Most recently, Tmall’s 9.9 festival, the third-largest global shopping festival, matched the extended sales period of the 2021 iteration, from September 5 to 10, 2022, including several stages: pre-heat shopping on September 5–8 and official shopping on September 9–10.

In the US, retailers are catching on to the power of festivals. Amazon has expanded the length of its Prime Day since the launch of the event. In 2022, 2021 and 2020, the shopping event lasted 48 hours, which helped to lift transaction volumes.

The 10.10 Shopping Festival takes advantage of the festival format to boost spending and help retailers attract new customers and improve brand awareness.

9. The 10.10 Festival Showcases Special Deals To Help Consumers Weather Pressure from Inflation

This year’s 10.10 Shopping Festival will showcase more special deals, products or compelling offerings to help consumers enjoy shopping while saving money. Selected special deals include the following:

• Fifth & Cherry is offering a 10% discount with code 101022.
• SHOCK West Hampton’s Golden Balloons sale includes select items priced at $200 and $300; these items are marked with a Golden Balloon.
• HelloFresh is giving special discounts to 10.10 shoppers on its meal kits.

We see inflation as an important factor in the US retail market. The US inflation rate rose to 8.2% in August 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Higher prices will support the size of the retail market in 2022, but we expect those price uplifts to conceal a weakness in volumes as consumers become more selective about purchases.

Against the backdrop of inflation, the 10.10 Shopping Festival can help consumers find value and quality products from retailers.

10. What Consumers Can Do

Many consumers rely on friends, family or social media for recommendations and product advice before purchasing. In this way, consumers’ personal circles and professional networks often influence where they shop and what they buy. Key opinion consumers (KOCs) can be integral to raising awareness of shopping festivals and in brand discovery. Unlike key opinion leaders (KOLs) or influencers, KOCs are regular consumers who share their reviews of products with their friends and family via videos and posts, similar to word-of-mouth marketing.

Coresight Research invites readers to support the retailers and charities at this 10.10 Shopping Festival by joining our livestream sessions, shopping and sharing the festival on social media.

What We Think

The 10.10 Shopping Festival officially kicks off the 2022 holiday season, with participating companies spanning major retail categories including accessories, apparel, beauty, footwear and home goods—and products featuring sustainable design elements. The 10.10 Shopping Festival welcomes all consumers.

• The festival was created as a way to engage consumers and drive brand awareness. Consumers will benefit from the festival by enjoying brand and retailer promotions and having fun while they shop through interactive, interesting livestream videos.
• Charity is a differentiator of the 10.10 Shopping Festival: consumers will have the opportunity to contribute to charities directly or indirectly when they shop from retailers that are giving back.
• Retailers will benefit from the 10.10 Shopping Festival through raising brand awareness, increasing sales and alleviating supply chain bottlenecks by pulling holiday shopping forward.
• Charity partners will benefit from the 10.10 Shopping Festival as it will be able to increase donations at a time when consumers need them most.

The full schedule and links to all livestreams can be found at 1010shoppingfestival.com. We look forward to shopping with you during the 10.10 Shopping Festival 2022!