It’s been 10 years since Alibaba’s online e-commerce portal Taobao.com made November 11, also known as Singles’ Day, the “Double 11” shopping bonanza. Now, it has truly turned into a Chinese-style Black Friday.And the one-day annual buying frenzy broke last year’s record.
Chinese consumers shrugged off any concerns over a slowing economy by snapping up goods and services from home and abroad during the Singles Day online shopping gala, which falls on Nov 11 each year.
The 24-hour shopping flurry, which is celebrating its 10th year, is the latest exemplification of how domestic consumption is increasingly becoming a major economic growth driver and is unlikely to be overshadowed by temporary trade frictions, experts said.
Sales numbers on Alibaba Group’s online shopping platforms rolled fast and furious since the clock struck midnight and Nov 11 began.
The Tmall site smashed the 10 billion-yuan threshold in just two minutes and five seconds, trimming roughly one-third of the time needed to hit that mark set a year ago.
Imported products are gaining notable traction among buyers who are willing to pay more for quality. It took just over six hours for cross-border online transactions to reach last year’s full-day record on Tmall Global, the dedicated cross-border portal.
For instance, beauty products from Japanese cosmetics specialist Kao and Dyson hairdryers booked 10 million yuan respectively in sales in the first hour of trading on Nov 11, according to Alibaba.
The trend echoed research by global consultancy Oliver Wyman, which revealed that around 57 percent of surveyed consumers intend to buy overseas goods, with sales expected to make up one-third of total consumer spending.
In addition to Singles Day, global brands will definitely see China as one of its most promising markets year-round and the country is becoming a solid growth engine, said Jason Yu, China general manager of Kantar World panel.
“The vast population base and the unleashed consumption power from smaller cities, townships and rural areas are magnets for international brands,” Yu said.
“Temporary trade frictions are unlikely to undermine such robust momentum,” the manager added.
Nov 11 is not just about selling a lot of products to consumers, but a time where “we test our supply chain system and our new products, or even better, we test new ideas”, analysts said.
Actually, in 2017, the average disposable income in urban regions had doubled compared with 2009, reaching more than 36,000 yuan annually, and the Singles’ Day shopping sales records reflected this.
(source:ourjiangsu.com)
