# Double 12 (12.12)
> Double 12 is China's online shopping festival on 12 December, begun by Taobao in 2011 for small merchants and now a year-end promotion after Singles' Day.
Source: https://moojing-global.com/wiki/double-12-shopping-festival
Last updated: 29 October 2026
Double 12, or 12.12, is an online shopping festival held on and around 12 December. Taobao began it in 2011 as a promotion for its small and medium-sized merchants,1 and marketplaces now run it over several days, which in 2025 meant from 8 to 12 December on Tmall and from 8 to 14 December on JD.2, 3 It comes about a month after Singles' Day, at the close of the year.
## How Double 12 began
Taobao first ran a promotion on 12 December in 2011, under the name 全民疯抢 ("everyone grabs"), and from 2012, its second year, the industry called it Double 12 (双12).1 It gave Taobao's small and medium-sized merchants a promotion of their own, and over time Double 11 became associated with Tmall's brand merchants and Double 12 with Taobao's smaller shops.1
In 2012 Taobao called the day "1212" and presented it as a different kind of day from Double 11, and by an Alibaba executive's account the line Jack Ma set for it was "1111 is about numbers, 1212 is about stories".4 In 2013, when it ran as a two-week promotion, Taobao's president, Zhang Yu, said that Double 11 "was to see how much transaction value we can achieve", while Double 12 was "a stage for small retailers" that would give exposure to the whole Taobao ecosystem.5
## Double 12 in shops and restaurants
From 2014 Alipay also ran Double 12 offline, as a way of bringing mobile payment into physical shops,6 and by 2016, the third year, the offline festival reached supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, malls and, for the first time, scenic areas, under the line "Double 11 online, Double 12 offline" (线上双11，线下双12).7 By 2018, run with Koubei and Ele.me, it covered dining, convenience stores, fresh food, beauty and hair salons, malls and pharmacies,6 so that by then Double 12 reached local shops and services as well as online stores.
## The 2023 renaming and the 2024 return
On 24 November 2023 a notice in Taobao's service hall for merchants said that Double 12 would not be held that year and that a platform event called the Taobao Year-End Good Price Festival (淘宝年终好价节) would run in December,8 which Reuters reported as a cancellation,9 while Taobao and Tmall said that Double 12 had been renamed rather than cancelled.1 The Good Price Festival had first run as a sub-venue at 618 that year, and for December it became the main venue, with brand merchants taking part as well,1 and it opened at 8 pm on 9 December 2023.10
In 2024 Taobao and Tmall took the Double 12 name back up, with a warm-up from midnight on 7 December and the main event from 8 pm on 9 December to the end of 12 December.11, 12 Taobao's marketing head, Jin Que (锦雀), said then that Double 11 leans towards brands' promotions while Double 12 is positioned as "a feast of individual items" (宝贝的盛宴), drawing shoppers through distinctive goods and playful events.11
## How the window has moved
| Year | Festival name | Window |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Year-End Good Price Festival | From 8 pm on 9 Dec10 |
| 2024 | Double 12 | Warm-up from 7 Dec; 8 pm on 9 Dec to 12 Dec12 |
| 2025 | Tmall Double 12 Carnival | Tmall: warm-up 6–7 Dec; 8 to 12 Dec2 |
In 2025 Tmall brought the start of spot sales forward from 8 pm on 9 December, where it had been the year before, to midnight on 8 December.2 JD's Double 12 that year ran from midnight on 8 December to the end of 14 December, a longer cycle than in 2024.3 In 2025 Tmall's rules were public by 25 November, when sign-up for merchants opened.2
## The other marketplaces on 12 December
Double 12 began at Taobao, but other retailers have run promotions on the same date for almost as long. In 2012 JD named 12 December a members' day (会员关爱日), while Tencent's Paipai and Suning each ran a five-day promotion,13 and in 2013 Xinhua reported that Taobao, Tmall, JD, Dangdang and Amazon China were all running promotions for the day, and some merchants advertised it as a second round after Double 11.14
In 2024 JD's Double 12 opened on 7 December, Pinduoduo's ran from 22 November to 12 December, and Douyin's year-end promotion ran from 6 to 31 December under the name Year-End Carnival Season (年终狂欢季), taking in Double 12, Christmas and New Year.15 In 2025 Douyin and Kuaishou each ran a Year-End Carnival Season of about a month that took in Double 12, and Xiaohongshu ran a Starlight Night Market (星光夜市) from 5 December to 5 January.16
## What sells at Double 12
Because it began as the small merchants' festival, Double 12 has been presented around individual products and smaller sellers more than around brands, and Taobao described the 2024 festival in those terms, as a feast of individual items drawing on distinctive goods.1, 11 In the offline years it reached restaurants, convenience stores, fresh food, salons and pharmacies as well.6
Its date also makes it a year-end promotion. In 2025 the goods named around it included phones released a year or two earlier, whose discounts stacked with the national trade-in subsidy; Christmas editions and gift sets; and tonic gift boxes for the New Year and the Spring Festival.16 Because much of what Double 12 is known for, from year-end stock to seasonal gifts, is also sold in the weeks around it, it is read best within the whole stretch from the end of Singles' Day to the New Year goods season.
## Double 12 and Singles' Day
Double 12 began as a complement to Double 11 for Taobao's smaller merchants,1 and in recent years it has also been presented as a time for occasion-led buying and for clearing stock at the end of the year.16 Alibaba's executives have drawn the same line since 2012, with Double 11 as the festival of brands and transaction value and Double 12 as the festival of smaller sellers and individual items.4, 5, 11 The two sit close together in the calendar, since Singles' Day ends on 11 November and Double 12 comes a month later, and we believe a brand's stock, prices and content for the two are best planned as one season.
## Reading Double 12 in category data
Three things in Double 12's recent history matter when one December is compared with another. The 2023 festival ran under another name, and it was the first in which Taobao brought brand merchants into its December event in large numbers.1 The window shifts from year to year, as the table above shows: Tmall's main sales opened at 8 pm on 9 December in 2024 and at midnight on 8 December in 2025.2 And on some platforms the day sits inside a year-end promotion of about a month,15, 16 so the comparable window there is that promotion rather than the few days around 12 December.
The working rule is the one the [Singles' Day (Double 11)](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/singles-day-double-11) entry sets out: compare equivalent windows rather than equal calendar days, state the windows being compared, and read the weeks either side of the festival as part of the same measurement.
## Where to look next
For where Double 12 sits among the other festivals and holidays of the year, see [China's E-Commerce Calendar](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/china-ecommerce-calendar). For the November festival that comes before it, and how to compare one year's cycle with another's, see [Singles' Day (Double 11)](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/singles-day-double-11). For the mid-year festival, see [618 Shopping Festival](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/618-shopping-festival). For what a promotional sales total measures, see [GMV](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/gmv), and for reading prices across a festival, see [Price Band Analysis](https://moojing-global.com/wiki/price-band-analysis).
## Sources
1. [Jiemian](https://www.jiemian.com/article/10532383.html), on the history of Double 12 and its renaming, 13 December 2023.
2. Ebrun via [Sina Tech](https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2025-11-27/doc-infyvthh8291839.shtml), on Tmall's rules for Double 12 2025, 27 November 2025.
3. [Ebrun](https://m.ebrun.com/630410.html), on JD's Double 12 2025, 14 December 2025.
4. 每日经济新闻 via [China Securities Journal](https://cs.com.cn/xwzx/msxf/201212/t20121213_3778150.html), on Double 12 in 2012, 13 December 2012.
5. [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1365762/taobao-prepares-roll-out-new-shopping-fest), on Taobao's plans for Double 12 in 2013, 26 November 2013.
6. [每日经济新闻](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2018-12-05/1279231.html), on the offline Double 12, 5 December 2018.
7. [36Kr](https://www.36kr.com/p/1721285099521), on the offline Double 12 in 2016, 11 December 2016.
8. [36Kr](https://www.36kr.com/p/2534888231149704) (commentary), on the 2023 notice to merchants, 27 November 2023.
9. Reuters via [The Star](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2023/11/24/alibaba039s-taobao-tmall-cancel-dec-12-shopping-festival-to-host-substitute-event), 24 November 2023.
10. [每日经济新闻](https://www.mrjjxw.com/articles/2023-11-27/3135246.html), on the Year-End Good Price Festival, 27 November 2023.
11. [The Paper](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29615527), on Double 12 in 2024, 11 December 2024.
12. [IT之家](https://ithome.com/0/815/237.htm), on the platforms' Double 12 2024 rules, 4 December 2024.
13. 六安新闻网 via [Sina News](https://news.sina.com.cn/o/2012-12-13/094025802412.shtml), on 12 December 2012 across retailers, 13 December 2012.
14. Xinhua via [中国金融信息网](https://www.cnfin.com/news-xh08/a/20131211/1283960.shtml), on Double 12 in 2013, 11 December 2013.
15. [Cailian Press](https://www.cls.cn/detail/1884785), on Double 12 in 2024, 10 December 2024.
16. 深响 via [Lanjinger](https://www.lanjinger.com/d/1765512452199088509), on Double 12 in 2025, 15 December 2025.
## How Moojing approaches this
Moojing's e-commerce data covers 30+ marketplaces in 20+ countries, China's among them, so a brand can read its category across December alongside November, and set one year's Double 12 season against another's. See [China market intelligence](https://moojing-global.com/market-intelligence).
## Common questions
### When is Double 12?
Double 12 is named after 12 December, and the marketplaces now run it over several days around that date, each setting its own window every year. In 2025 Tmall ran a warm-up on 6 and 7 December and sold from 8 to 12 December, and JD ran its Double 12 from 8 to 14 December, while Douyin and Kuaishou took the day into a year-end promotion lasting about a month.
### How did Double 12 begin?
Taobao first ran a promotion on 12 December in 2011, and the name Double 12 (双12) was in use from 2012. It was set up as a festival for Taobao's small and medium-sized merchants, while Double 11 became associated with brands, and in 2013 Taobao's president described it as a stage for small retailers.
### Was Double 12 cancelled in 2023?
In November 2023 a notice to Taobao's merchants said that Double 12 would not be held that year and that a Year-End Good Price Festival would run in December instead, which some reports called a cancellation. Taobao and Tmall said that the festival had been renamed rather than cancelled, and it opened at 8 pm on 9 December 2023 under the new name. In 2024 Taobao and Tmall brought the Double 12 name back.
### How is Double 12 different from Singles' Day?
Double 12 comes about a month after Singles' Day and began as its complement, giving Taobao's small and medium-sized merchants a promotion of their own. Taobao has described Double 11 as leaning towards brands' promotions and Double 12 as "a feast of individual items", and in recent years Double 12 has also been a time for year-end buying, including gifts for Christmas, New Year and the Spring Festival.