Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com laughed all the way to the bank on Wednesday, November 11, as sales records were broken as unattached people celebrated Single’s Day.
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However, analysts noted that the high turnover was achieved thanks to discounts, which a few said were bigger this year – while others pointed out that consumers may often buy more goods for personal use to cheer themselves up at a time of economic slowdown.
While India was engaged in celebrating its festival of lights to appease to the Goddess of wealth, its next door neighbour China was splurging money online on the occasion of Singles Day.
Speaking at the company’s Singles’ Day celebration in Beijing, Jack Ma, Alibaba’s eccentric founder and executive chairman, told reporters the event’s annual growth in the future should be more than 50%.
It is the first time the event went global as UK’s Sainsury’s, Germany’s METRO and USA’s Macy’s all joined in the sales activities, reported People’s Daily Online. Singles’ Day, in other words is called the “bare sticks holiday” or preferably a day for individuals who are single.
One of the new sales channels pumping up Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales this year was Suning Commerce Group, in which it bought a 20% stake in August.
Alibaba’s major local rival JD.com also had a great day, with 10 million clicks on the shopping chart button. While average consumers flock to cheap online deals, conventional retailers with many employees struggle to increase sales of high-end merchandise. However, over the years, the day has become increasingly associated with shopping.
The cumulative national bill for the day-long orgy of commerce dwarfed what Americans spent online over the five-day frenzy from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday past year. Total number of mobile buyers was more than 27 million in the first hour.
Another statistic: Cainiao Logistics, Alibaba’s partner and affiliate, received 467 million delivery orders on Wednesday, which was up 68 percent from a year ago. “Online retailers need to customise their products to serve these increasingly savvy urban consumers”.
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But even though the shopping day didn’t get as much traction in the USA, it still managed to break several records. “But they are looking to get products at a discount”, Buchwald said.
