Double Eleven has developed into a shopping carnival rather than a simple festival with promotions as a joke.

Its influence is no longer limited to China, but has become a global online shopping carnival.

Although it is not really that pure, after all, some businesses have been engaged in fraudulent and false labeling, but it is undeniable that during this period, the number of online shopping orders is so high that it is not enough to describe its popularity.

In fact, many online merchants start preparing for this day several months in advance, preparing announcements and stocks, and even communicating with express delivery companies.

However, this year, the discounts on Double Eleven are polarized compared to previous years.

Although food, daily necessities, medicine and other fields are still relatively affordable, there are fewer discounts.

Merchants are profit-driven, and this is not their fault. In the past year or two, the cost of various raw materials has increased very rapidly, and some have reached a point where product price increases cannot keep up with the materials.

Companies want to raise prices but are afraid of being squeezed out by their competitors. If they don’t raise prices, they will not be able to sustain internal friction. Now, some smart people have seen the crisis. Even if it is not the end of the world, it is a major disaster for economic materials. The fact that they don’t raise prices immediately is a sign that the pressure from the platform has worked.

Online shopping platforms have a saying for merchants: you can choose not to offer discounts, or even increase prices slightly, but if it is too much, the platform will no longer welcome you.

After all, doomsday is still somewhat imaginary, but the platform threat is real. If there is no doomsday, would you still do business?

Some merchants of "precious resources", such as canned goods, compressed biscuits, instant noodles, etc., all have a deep premonition that they are short of stock and even want to withdraw from this feast.

However, at this time, another layer of pressure came from top to bottom, which was more deterrent than the online shopping platform. Moreover, the problem of insufficient inventory actually had support from above, which made these people realize certain things.

Since there are two levels of differentiated prices, there will naturally be some "big discounts". The goods in the fields of some home appliances or certain industrial products have quite large discounts.

It is not an exaggeration to say that some commodities are truly half price, but the merchants are using some tricks.

Some products that used to be payable in installments now require a down payment of half the amount; some offer huge discounts but are sold in bundles; and some simply launch super discount events for “whole family outfitting”.

Although the overall price is greatly discounted and it seems that the merchants are suffering a huge loss, the speed of short-term capital recovery has increased.

In fact, even at this critical juncture, there are not too few people who will really buy these products. Why not do it if you can spend less than half of the previous home decoration? After all, the money spent on stockpiling supplies accounts for a large proportion of savings.

It seems that rumors of the end of the world are everywhere, but after all, the majority of people classify them as "rumors", and humans are the most self-deceiving creatures, even if some news is already "explicit" enough.

This kind of skeptical and precautionary behavior has long been calculated by psychological and behavioral analysts in various countries of the World Alliance.

In this state, most people will not disrupt the existing order, and due to the herd mentality they will subconsciously make some preparations, which can be regarded as a process of self-reassurance in the stable stage.

It can be said that in the face of the apocalyptic crisis, the wisdom and cohesion of the top human beings is unprecedented.

Against this backdrop, this year’s Double Eleven has finally arrived.

The term "shopping spree" is particularly appropriate this year. People's desire to shop is stronger than ever before. Ordinary people can easily spend several months or even half a year's salary if they are not careful.

Some people who are prepared and who think the information is "explicit" enough have already prepared their savings and are planning to do something ruthless.

The traffic of major shopping websites began to increase continuously a few days before the festival, and at the early morning of November 11, it experienced an explosive surge.

The browser refresh speed has been affected, online orders are placed from all over the world, and more than one or two servers are paralyzed.

The order information in the backends of major merchants is ringing more exaggeratedly than the frequency of old alarm clocks.

Fortunately, even with the support, the number of goods for sale is always limited. Even if a purchase limit system is implemented for each real-name account, after a few hours of support, many product web pages have been shown as sold out!

What followed was a terrifying workload, which weighed on the heads of the shop owners like a mountain.

Of course, express delivery companies will always be partners in times of trouble, even if they have all raised their prices.

The government would also like to see some resources being transported to the right places using the existing industrial chain, which not only ensures efficiency but also saves government transportation capacity and manpower.

…

“Huh~~”

After the exciting shopping spree, it was two o'clock in the morning before Zhang Kai and his wife put down their mouse and mobile phone.

The two's shopping accounts had been engaged in a peculiar battle over the past few hours.

“Finally I bought everything I wanted!”

His wife took a sip of the hot coffee and passed it to her husband.

"Yeah, but it cost me 18,000 yuan. I feel so bad..."

When they were rushing to buy, many web pages could not be refreshed and many products were shown as sold out after a short while. The couple were very nervous and just wanted to rush to buy. Now that it is over, Zhang Kai regrets a little.

This is the amount he and his wife need to save after deducting expenses from their monthly salary for four months.

"I've already bought it, do you want to cancel the order?"

When it comes to this, both husband and wife have a negative attitude. They had worked so hard to get it, so it would be stupid to give it up.

Afterwards, the two of them posted status updates on their Moments, shared their current feelings with others, and then fell asleep contentedly.

In fact, some familiar friends are sharing their battle results on WeChat and other chat software, and almost everyone who knows each other has tried their best to "fight".

Even many older generations who are not very good at online shopping have their younger generations use their ID cards to register accounts and join the shopping spree, because many products are subject to purchase restrictions this time.

For example, at a food online store with a very high rate of positive reviews, each account can only buy 3 boxes of compressed biscuits and canned goods, and there is no price reduction, but they are still sold out in the first time.

For a time, the headlines of major websites were all about the tipping data of this year's shopping carnival, such as how it broke the peak of previous years in a short period of time, how the tip amount was equivalent to which small country, how many people participated in the carnival, etc.

Some things cannot be comprehensive, for example, not everyone can use online shopping well, but from the perspective of collective wisdom, we can take various situations into consideration.

According to psychologists, after achieving great results in online shopping, especially when a huge amount of money is involved, even if the sense of crisis is strong, ordinary consumers will have a certain degree of regret or satisfaction due to the influence of their inherent living habits.

There will be no thought of a shopping spree for some time.

The elimination of this group of people gives those who do not know how to use the Internet an advantage.

In physical shopping systems, such as supermarkets, most people who have participated in Double Eleven will not actively participate in the rush to buy food and other items, and at most buy fresh ingredients.

This provides a relatively less crowded physical shopping environment for elderly people or widows and widowers who do not have fashionable children.

Under the "civilian self-regulation" plan that combines virtual and real elements, it ensures that most people can reserve a certain level of resources.

…

In the tactical hall of the special security team, Tao Xingzhi reported aloud as he thought about the several video avatars above the main screen.

"Three months! This is our preliminary estimate of the reasonable effect that the 'Private Self-Regulation Reserve Effect Plan' can eventually achieve based on the current data and information!"

"As long as they can reasonably adjust their own resources, on average, an average family can have at least three months of supplies to support them in extreme conditions."

"This is the reaction time given to both sides. If our command system and response force are not destroyed or severely damaged, this period of time is enough for us to arrange rescue or consider countermeasures!"

Tao Xingzhi, who had been injected with a strengthening potion several months ago, now has more energy, and the hidden dangers of his lung disease have been better controlled.

An elderly man in the video nodded.

"Panic comes from the unknown and lack of confidence in oneself. Seeing the supplies stored at home can at least give me a sense of security that cannot be ignored!"

Since it is the so-called average, naturally every household has more or less, but it is undeniable that there will be a certain considerable quantitative base.

What is different this time from previous salt grabs is that there will be no “rumors stop at the wise”.

Because calm and rational people can often see the current situation more deeply, most of those who spend a lot of money to prepare are these people, and those who were irrational in the past are naturally no exception this time. Even people between the two cannot avoid being infected by this terrifying atmosphere.

Under this simple March indicator, how many companies and enterprises were summoned for talks and warned, how many channel industries were given the green light, and how many big hands were secretly operating in the Internet and industry. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a war without the smoke of gunpowder.

…

“Beep, beep…”

Two Shunda Express trucks drove through the streets and arrived at the destination of this delivery.

How great is the distribution pressure?

The additional warehouses temporarily rented by the company were all full without exception. Normally, each trip of these two small trucks carried goods for at least hundreds of customers, but this time the trip only carried the goods for ten households.

"Hey, where is No. 232? I can't find it... Oh, you're waiting at the intersection of the transformer room, right? Okay, okay!"

The courier hung up the phone and parked the car at the intersection of the transformer room not far away.

Although transportation in rural areas is well developed, the house numbers are very messy and map navigation is not detailed enough, so we still have to use "telephone navigation".

A few minutes later, the residents came out to lead the way, and the vehicles drove towards an intersection and arrived at the entrance of their fence for easy transportation.

After the goods were unloaded, one of the trucks felt lighter, and both the deliverer and the consignee felt relieved.

After the express truck drove away, Zhang Kai looked at the goods scattered on the ground inside the wall.

“That’s a lot… and this is just one courier company!”

"Hehe, it feels like we are animals preparing to hibernate~"

His wife teased him by helping him carry the goods.

I waited for more than a week for the first batch of express deliveries, and I felt a magical sense of satisfaction after receiving them.

On the courier truck, the courier drove towards the direction indicated by another household in the village over the phone.

He didn't know if the world was really ending, but this period was undoubtedly the end of the world for him. Fortunately, his salary had also increased.

Weaving through traffic, delivering goods in a busy environment, people are surprised when receiving express deliveries, and they feel a little regretful when they are so carried away by shopping.

Amidst the rumors, life still has to go on, and even reaches a certain strange balance.

Everything seems to be the same as in previous years, and yet everything seems to be completely different.