Do prices really drop during Shopee’s 9.9 and 10.10 sales? We checked

Every time a new month rolls in, there’s always a specific date when almost every e-commerce platform in Malaysia starts promoting a huge sale. You know the drill, like 9.9, 10.10, 11.11… those kinds of deals. Around that period, your screen gets blasted with ads saying things like “Mega Sale! Up to 90% Off! Free Shipping!”

So the big question is… are we actually getting cheaper dropped prices, or is it just one big marketing move that makes us feel like we’re saving money when the reality… isn’t as exciting?

That question popped into our heads after a colleague added a bunch of items to her Shopee cart. When we asked why she wasn’t checking out yet, she said she was waiting for the 9.9 sale so she could “save a bit.” And Shopee really goes hard during these sales days. They even once got Cristiano Ronaldo to appear in their promo, doing a full-on dance just to hype it up.

We’re still a bit puzzled about why they picked a Portuguese footballer to hype up an online shopping sale. Sure, he’s super famous, but it’s not exactly the same field, right? Even so, the gamble paid off. Reports showed that Shopee’s 9.9 sale that year skyrocketed. Their numbers tripled, and both website traffic and purchases went through the roof during the campaign.

Since Shopee introduced the 9.9 Super Shopping Day back in 2016, pretty much every e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia jumped on the bandwagon. Lazada did it, Zalora has their own version, and even Grab and Foodpanda have their own “annual sale” hype going on.

This year, Shopee claimed that Malaysians managed to save over RM500 million during the 9.9 promo, with more than 1.2 million items delivered in just 24 hours. The hottest-selling categories were health and beauty, groceries, shoes, electronics, and even pet supplies. Looks like it’s not just humans who get excited for discounts. The cats are cashing in too.

To really understand how Shopee sales work, we decided to look at how their promotions actually function. Every year, Shopee throws out all kinds of deals like vouchers for specific products, free shipping perks, payment-method discounts, limited-time price drops, and even livestream sessions where sellers push super cheap offers. The big question is… if we only focus on the prices, do things actually get cheaper during these sales?

So to find out, we tracked more than 100 products over two weeks, from 1 to 16 September. We included all sorts of categories, from kitchen essentials to pricey gadgets. The priciest item we monitored was an iPhone 13 costing over RM2,000, while the cheapest was a tiny perfume tester at RM1.50. Sure, this isn’t a massive government-level study, but it’s enough to give us a clear picture of whether the sales hype is real or just a marketing illusion.

And the answer we discovered is…

The overall prices actually went up during 9.9?!

After spending two weeks collecting daily prices and removing any products with missing or unreliable data, we were left with around 48 items that we could properly analyze. Then we added up their prices day-by-day and compared the totals side by side. When we plotted everything out on a graph, the result looked something like this:

We totally expected prices to drop like crazy on 9.9, but turns out the opposite happened. On average, prices actually went up by about 1% between 8.9 and 9.9, which is roughly a RM60 increase overall. That means not everything gets cheaper when the sale hits. In fact, the average trend shows a slight bump in prices.

What’s even more interesting is the breakdown. Out of all the products we tracked, around 42% actually increased in price, nearly 38% stayed exactly the same, and only about 21% became cheaper. When we zoom in on those that did drop, the discount wasn’t that huge either. Most were small reductions, around RM5 to RM10, and mainly for cheaper items like accessories or household bits and pieces.

Only a handful of items actually showed a noticeable price drop. For example, a special edition Nintendo Switch went down by RM76, and AirPods dipped by around RM51. On the flip side, there were products that became even pricier during the sale. A gaming chair went up by RM51, and the iPhone 13 climbed by RM27.

Plus, if you look closely at the graph above…

The day with the lowest prices wasn’t even 9.9

Here’s the twist. Even though prices climbed a bit before the sale day, the average price on the 9.9 was actually 4% lower compared to “normal” prices. We calculated that normal pierce by averaging six regular-sale-free days, which is 1-3 September and 1-3 October. Basically a rough estimate of what things cost on a typical day.

So yes, prices dipped on 9 September. Yet the biggest drop didn’t happen o the actual sale day. It happened on 6 September instead. That day showed a massive 10% drop, which is more than RM555 cheaper overall.

A big chunk of that came from the three expensive items, the iPhone 13, Airpods Pro, and a gaming chair. Those three alone pulled pieces down by RM404. Even if we don’t count that, 6 September still was the cheapest day, with an average drop of around 7%.

In other words, people who checked out earlier probably saved more than those who waited for the “grand” sale itself.

After plotting the data, we couldn’t spot any strong, consistent pattern that clearly explains these price changes. But it does feel like there’s a repeating trend where prices drop sharply before 9.9, spike around the sale date, then go down again right after.

Maybe it’s just coincidence. Maybe it’s part of a seller strategy or something Shopee coordinates behind the scenes. Some sellers might adjust prices earlier, while others wait until the big day. Without insider info from Shopee or the sellers themselves, we can’t really confirm the exact reason.

What we do know is that the cheapest price isn’t always on the official sale day. So our colleague who saved everything in her cart while waiting for 9.9… yeah, that waiting game didn’t really pay off.

Although the story might be different if she put in a little effort, because…

Getting those 9.9 discounts is definitely possible, but you gotta work for it a little

It’s good to remember that 9.9 isn’t just about lower prices on the product page. It’s a whole promo ecosystem packed with livestream deals, special vouchers, flash sales, and extra discounts depending on how you pay.

Just this year alone, Shopee Live recorded a massive jump in orders, up to 12 times higher on the peak day, with over 300 million views. Looks like plenty of shoppers are willing to put in the effort, watch the livestreams, and hunt down those exclusive deals during 9.9.

However, when you think about it from a consumer perspective, a difference of about 5% up or down is not a big deal. If you do not mind that small difference, you can just buy whenever you need to. It is not worth waiting a whole week without toilet paper just to save RM1.37.

For anyone who’s a bit stingy about spending, there are easier ways to keep track of price changes without doing a whole research project. One handy tool is the AliPrice Shopping Assistant for Shopee, a Chrome extension that shows a product’s price history and alerts you when the price drops. You can also compare the same item across other online platforms.

That way, you can avoid falling for “fake discounts” where the price gets bumped up a week before the sale, then lowered again during the promo just to look like a big promotion.

Another option is to just watch Shopee Live, since sellers sometimes throw out some legit low prices during livestreams, mostly to grab attention and boost views. The catch is… you might end up buying things you don’t actually need. For some people though, that’s part of the fun. It’s like enjoying a live shopping show and getting the thrill of snagging a deal on the spot.

For many of us, maybe these sales aren’t really about saving money anyway. It’s more about the excitement of online shopping. That little rush you get when you manage to check out before everything gets marked as “sold out.” It’s become a whole modern shopping culture. Just like Black Friday in the West, these “double-date” sales like 9.9 and 11.11 have become the norm. Feels like there’s a sale every month now, not just on the special repeated dates, but in so many different forms.

No hard feelings tho, as long as you’re managing your money wisely and not falling into crazy debt, just shop whenever it feels right. You don’t have to wait for those double-date sales just to hit checkout… unless you genuinely enjoy the thrill of racing the timer during a livestream. People don’t always shop only for necessities. Sometimes it’s simply for that little spark of satisfaction. One moment you’re browsing, and the next thing you know… wallet kosong, barang sampai.

Anyway, if you’ve got your own tricks to spot real discounts when shopping online, share them with us. We’d love to learn from the pros. Meanwhile, stick with us at CIlisos for more spicy, up-to-date stories.

...