Recently, several e-commerce media outlets and industry veterans analyzed the 2012 Tmall Double Eleven Top 200 store rankings on Weibo to predict the top-selling stores for 2013. Among the many predictions, three brands stood out. CAMEL Camel claimed the top spot with 50% support, followed by Jack & Jones with 22%, and third-place Place with 10%. Among CAMEL Camel’s various category stores, Camel Outdoor emerged as a dark horse, garnering significant attention.
There’s good reason for the high expectations placed on CAMEL Camel Outdoor. In the 2012 Tmall Double Eleven Top 200 Sales Rankings, the first outdoor category entry was Camel Outdoor’s official flagship store at rank 21, with sales of approximately 47.21 million RMB. Next was Jack Wolfskin’s flagship store at rank 43, achieving about 28.61 million RMB in sales. Following that was The North Face’s official flagship store at rank 62, with sales of around 23.95 million RMB.
Though its image is that of a gentle and honest camel, CAMEL Camel is unexpectedly fierce. Since entering e-commerce, CAMEL Camel has never stopped challenging itself. It has flourished across numerous categories, including men’s shoes, outdoor gear, men’s apparel, and women’s shoes, and has become a representative of traditional enterprises successfully transforming into e-commerce. Camel Outdoor’s outdoor clothing and footwear have ranked first in overall online sales for three consecutive years. In the 2012 Double Eleven, it performed exceptionally well, with sales nearly equal to the combined total of the second and third-ranked outdoor brands—a testament to Camel’s solid fan base among outdoor enthusiasts. On the Camel Outdoor flagship store’s homepage, numerous Double Eleven promotions are prominently displayed. Recently, Camel revealed that the company has partnered with China Telecom on a broadband enhancement initiative, completing bandwidth upgrades and adding dedicated data lines as early as September, ensuring the most basic hardware infrastructure is in place to take on Double Eleven.
Since the start of the Golden September and Silver October promotional season, Camel Outdoor has intensified its promotion of key products, catching many competitors off guard. Its strong collaboration with the CGR China Cross-Country Rally showcases the brand’s professional off-road capabilities. The development of customized climbing gear supported climber Zhang Liang’s summit of Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the latest technology has been used to create a Han Han celebrity-customized edition, among other initiatives.
Faced with the aggressive approach of Tmall’s Double Eleven, major e-commerce platforms are naturally unwilling to fall behind. It seems they have conspired to unveil their end-of-year promotional schedules early, aiming to “divert traffic from Double Eleven.” JD.com struck first with its “Double Ten Season” promotion, decisively releasing pent-up demand early. Tencent’s QQ Wanggou, always eager to get a piece of the pie, also launched its “1020 Shopping Frenzy,” with insiders boldly claiming they aim to establish it as the third-largest online shopping carnival in China, alongside Tmall’s “Double Eleven” and JD.com’s “618.” Vancl, embroiled in rumors of delayed payments, still stepped up in the face of crisis, launching a major “10.18 Vancl 6th Anniversary” event.
Industry insiders suggest that the intense competition among e-commerce platforms during Double Eleven will inevitably lead to the premature depletion of consumers’ year-end spending power. The chaos of the 2012 Double Eleven shopping spree saw issues such as warehouse system breakdowns, logistics overload, and lagging merchant services—problems that were not quickly resolved. After last year’s unrestrained frenzy, consumers are expected to shop more rationally. The blatant traffic-diverting actions of external platforms and the rational shopping psychology of consumers are challenges both Tmall and the tens of thousands of participating merchants must face together. How will this Double Eleven battle unfold? Let’s wait and see.