While US shoppers are gearing up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Chinese consumers are opening up their wallets in a big way on Wednesday.
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Ma’s remarks came as Alibaba put the finishing touches on its record-smashing Singles Day sales event.
Singles’ Day, originally a mock celebration for people not in relationships, features steep discounts and other promotions aimed at attracting droves of customers online.
With the company’s powerful initial performance, it is predicted that sales this year may reach up to $13.7 billion, a significant increase from the $9.3 billion that Alibaba generated last year, according to Business Insider.
Huge demand from China caused a shortage of premium organic baby milk formula in Australia.
Every year on Nov 11, Alibaba holds Singles Day, the biggest 24 hour online shopping extravaganza of the world.
This year’s total sales are up 60% from 2014. Alibaba also made the most of China’s online-to-offline trend, with more than 180,000 brick-and-mortar stores in 330 cities across China expected to be integrated into the online sale.
The company’s chief rival JD.com saw 20 million online orders by 5:30 pm on Wednesday. Although it didn’t disclose its revenue from the day, the firm processed 32m orders, up 130 per cent from a year ago. Economist believe that the massive shopping event in the country will also bring in many more worldwide brands to China, which might spur growth in the economy.
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Despite a slow down in the Chinese economy, the sales went up as people are known to save all year for spending on Single’s day. “The whole world will witness the power of Chinese consumption this November 11”. However, over the years, the day has become increasingly associated with shopping. And Alibaba even hired James Bond star, Daniel Craig, to help launch proceedings and earn even more coverage for its range of offers.
