US vs China (2024–2025): why price competition is ‘coupon mechanics’ in China and ‘effective price’ in the US

If you build a “competitor price tracker” and you treat the US and China the same, you’ll ship the wrong product.

The core insight from 2024–2025 data is: the conversion levers differ.

• US: the market is large, e-commerce is a significant slice of retail, and online prices have been declining YoY for extended periods → competition plays out in effective price (shipping, fees, delivery, returns) and tactical promos.
• China: online retail operates at massive scale with near-universal adoption → competition is often structured around promo mechanics (event windows, coupon stacking, bundles, fulfillment perks) and high cadence.

The benchmark numbers

United States

• U.S. Census reports e-commerce at ~16.4% of total retail sales in Q3 2025 (seasonally adjusted).
• Adobe’s Digital Price Index reported online prices -2.9% YoY in Oct 2024, and that it was the 26th consecutive month of YoY online price declines.

China

• NBS reports online retail sales of ¥15.52T in 2024 (+7.2% YoY), with physical goods online at ¥13.08T, representing 26.8% of total retail.
• CNNIC reports 974M online shopping users by Dec 2024, i.e., 87.9% of internet users.
• MOFCOM data for H1 2024 reports ¥7.1T (+9.8% YoY) online retail sales; NBS reports continued growth in 2025 (Jan–Oct 2025 ¥12.79T, +9.6% YoY).

What changes for pricing intelligence

1) Price is a number in the US, but a system in China

US pattern: price competition is often visible as:

• Shipping thresholds (“free shipping over $X”)
• Delivery promises (fast shipping becomes a price-equivalent)
• Returns and guarantees
• Small tactical discounts or category-level promos

China pattern: price competition frequently becomes:

• Event windows (multi-week sale phases)
• Coupon stacking (platform + store + payment/logistics)
• Bundles and gifts
• Short-lived deal states triggered by campaigns

2) Cadence: daily vs event-driven

In the US, a daily snapshot can capture most “normal” moves. In China, you often need event window awareness (start/end), otherwise you’ll misread the market (“price up” can simply mean “coupon window ended”).

3) The “effective price” schema must be richer for China

A minimal effective-price record should look like:

• Base price
• Discount state (strike-through, badge text)
• Coupon prompts / auto-applied discounts
• Cart-level discount flags
• Shipping/fees and thresholds
• Delivery ETA
• Availability

If you only store base price, you will systematically under-measure competitive pressure in both markets—especially in China.

How Trackabl can productize this

Offer region presets:

• US mode: focus on shipping thresholds, fees, delivery promises, and stable SKU tracking.
• China mode: focus on coupon/promo layers, event windows, and fast-changing deal states.

Takeaway: US competition is “effective price optimization.” China competition is “promo mechanics at scale.” Your tracker must model the offer accordingly.