Customers get ready to open their wallets on 'Double 11'

A poster for e-commerce giant jd.com is seen at a bus stop in Wuhan, Hubei province, Oct 28, 2016. [Photo / IC]

As the annual November 11 online shopping festival, also called "Double 11", edges closer, 88 percent of consumers have shopping plans, with 56 percent of them having already spent some money on the early promotions, according to a Nielsen report.

The report said the festival has maintained its allure with almost 100 percent of last year's buyers planning to return this year.

With 58 percent planning to spend more than last year, the average budget is expected to reach 1,719 yuan ($254.24) this year, a slight increase from last year.

Nielsen said 77 percent of customers plan to spend between 301 yuan and 3,000 yuan, with most of them budgeting 301 to 1,000 yuan, the report said.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's two retail platforms Tmall and Taobao, and JD.com remain the top three first choice platforms, the report said. And the proportion of customers shopping on mobile platforms or both mobile and PC platforms is rising.

The report said while delivery speed and limited amount of goods on sale are no longer the main concerns, discount and quality are the primary drivers.

However, 64 percent of customers feel there are no big discounts at the festival and 48 percent believe e-commerce platforms usually increase prices in advance to exaggerate the discount.

Cross-border e-commerce platform has become the preferred channel for customers wanting to buy overseas products, the report said. And customers aged between 26 to 35 years old are the main force of cross-border online shopping during the festival.

Tmall International ranks first in popularity among cross-border e-commerce platforms, followed by JD Worldwide and Taobao.

The report said online shopping in China has become more mature and rational.