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Chinese consumers bought everything from groceries to electronics to beauty products on Wednesday, as retailers slashed prices in the world’s largest online shopping bonanza, and this year they followed closely for clues about confidence. post-pandemic consumer.
For more than a decade, the spending marathon has seen China’s army of shoppers shell out colossal amounts of cash that have dwarfed the incomes of many small nations. And this year will not be the exception.
While “Singles Day”, called by its annual date of 11/11, has long been a 24-hour event, e-commerce giant Alibaba has extended it to an 11-day promotion starting on November 1. .
The world’s largest sales event, overshadowing Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States, spans four major days this year, and has so far brought sellers 16 times more orders for value than Prime Day. two-day global from Amazon.com Inc. last month. .
Its size is such that its performance is widely considered indicative of China’s post-virus economic recovery.
“Due to COVID-19, many Chinese are unable to go abroad,” Vice President Liu Bo told reporters, according to Reuters. “This actually stimulates online consumption.”
So far, the performance is likely a relief for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd after losing about 10% of its market value last week when regulators blasted the listing of Fintech subsidiary Ant Group.
Alibaba said that orders on its e-commerce platforms during the shopping extravaganza had topped $ 56 billion on Wednesday morning, more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Iceland, Lebanon and Georgia combined.
The firm began selling earlier this year to give lesser-known brands more exposure. It has set main discount days for November 1 through November 3, as well as the usual November 11, and will calculate the gross volume of merchandise (GMV) during the 11 days.
Conceived in 2009 by Alibaba as an antidote to Valentine’s Day, the event is held on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and was meant to be an occasion for people to treat themselves to something new.
But it has expanded to encompass much of China’s retail sector, including traditional stores, which also offer “Singles Day” promotions.
The event is typically a one-day flashy event with live performances and last year posted a record GMV of $ 38.4 billion. This year, Katy Perry appeared at the Alibaba gala, albeit through a live broadcast.
In addition to offering straightforward price cuts, the event sees shoppers on Alibaba’s many platforms playing mobile games for deals, combining in-store purchases and placing orders in the early hours of the sale to get the best deals.
As of 12:30 a.m. (1630 GMT) on November 11, GMV had surpassed 372.3 billion yuan ($ 56.3 billion) with orders reaching a record 583,000 per second, Alibaba said. More than 2 million products were featured in the sale for the first time, double from last year.
Luxury blessing
More than 340 companies, including Apple Inc, L’Oreal SA and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, have surpassed 100 million yuan in sales, with 13 brands registering GMV in excess of one billion yuan, Alibaba said.
Japan’s Fast Retailing Co Ltd said that its Uniqlo brand ranked first in women’s and men’s clothing on Alibaba’s Tmall market.
The main categories of products imported by GMV at 9:00 am were food supplements, infant milk formulas and beauty. Sun Jian, head of logistics for the event, told reporters that Alibaba was disinfecting all packages from abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Analysts are also expecting this year to be a boon for luxury brands, as consumers accustomed to going abroad for high-end products have been frustrated by coronavirus border closures.
Livestreamers
A survey on Singles’ Day spending by Sina Entertainment found that only 4% of the 191,000 respondents planned to splurge more than 10,000 yuan, compared to 43% who intended to spend less than 1,000 yuan.
To encourage spending, live streamers packed pop-up movie studios in a building near Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, touting the merits of the products for sale.
Luo Lima estimated that she had been in front of the camera promoting maternity products for 24 hours during this year’s sales period, compared to six hours on Singles Day two years ago.
“We broadcast continuously for six hours, without interruption,” he told Reuters. “We start by eating a full meal and getting in a good frame of mind. We also make throat lozenges and vitamin drinks. “
Alibaba’s rivals JD.com Inc and Pinduoduo Inc, as well as firms such as Douyin, Beijing’s Chinese version of TikTok ByteDance Technology Co Ltd, are also holding Singles Day events.
JD.com, which began promotions on November 1, said orders at 2:26 p.m. had set a record 243.1 billion yuan.
This year’s purchases are being closely watched around the world as a guide to the state of China’s crucial consumer sector, which is increasingly important to the future of the world’s largest economy.
As the country emerges from the effects of the virus and strict lockdowns, the recovery in retail sales has lagged behind that seen in industrial sectors, but is picking up pace, analysts said.
“Singles Day” originally focused on sales of certain items such as beauty products and electronics, said Melanie Sanders, director of Asia-Pacific retail sales for consultancy Bain & Company.
But e-commerce in China has expanded to include almost anything a consumer can buy, including groceries, as digitally savvy Chinese opt for the convenience of online shopping.
The pandemic, which has made many Chinese wary of crowds, is fueling this trend, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We’re looking forward to another very, very strong year, another record,” Sanders said. “Retail in China is largely returning to last year’s levels.”
The Economist Intelligence Unit said it expects China’s recovery in retail sales to firm up in the last three months of the year, supported by the shopping festival.
“China’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic ahead of other major economies will also support consumer confidence,” he said.
