Consumers spend big for Singles Day shopping gala
Alibaba Group's Nov 11 global shopping festival has generated 498.2 billion yuan ($74.1 billion) in gross merchandise volume by end of Nov 11.
Some 675 million packages were handled on Tuesday, Singles Day, hitting a new record, according to the State Post Bureau.
A buying frenzy kicked up a notch in China as the annual Nov 11, Singles Day sales event saw brands ringing up billions of yuan in online sales and customers snapping up imported items via e-commerce.
The shopping gala, entering its final stretch at midnight on Wednesday, is a sign of consumer vibrancy and economic strength in China, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the shift to e-commerce among consumers across all income levels, experts said.
Tmall, Alibaba's business-to-customer platform, saw 342 brands hit 100 million yuan ($15 million) in sales between Nov 1 and the first 35 minutes of Nov 11. Among these, 13 brands, including Apple, Huawei and Midea, achieved 1 billion yuan.
For its twelfth edition, the traditionally 24-hour bonanza, a brainchild of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has been prolonged for the first time. Alibaba added a new shopping window from Nov 1 to Nov 3, posting preferential offers in a bid to spur consumer buying that had been hampered by the pandemic.
The shopping festival, expected to draw over 800 million consumers and 5 million businesses, is set to become "the barometer of China's continued economic recovery", said Jennifer Ye, PwC consumer markets leader for the Chinese mainland.
"A 'revenge buying' spree following COVID, and new consumption patterns such as direct sales via livestreaming and private domain operations, have driven demand and sales," she said. "We expect the sales to grow further this year with more intense competition among sellers."
A buying frenzy kicked up a notch in China as the annual Nov 11, Singles Day sales event saw brands ringing up billions of yuan in online sales and customers snapping up imported items via e-commerce.
The shopping gala, entering its final stretch at midnight on Wednesday, is a sign of consumer vibrancy and economic strength in China, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the shift to e-commerce among consumers across all income levels, experts said.
Tmall, Alibaba's business-to-customer platform, saw 342 brands hit 100 million yuan ($15 million) in sales between Nov 1 and the first 35 minutes of Nov 11. Among these, 13 brands, including Apple, Huawei and Midea, achieved 1 billion yuan.
For its twelfth edition, the traditionally 24-hour bonanza, a brainchild of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has been prolonged for the first time. Alibaba added a new shopping window from Nov 1 to Nov 3, posting preferential offers in a bid to spur consumer buying that had been hampered by the pandemic.
The shopping festival, expected to draw over 800 million consumers and 5 million businesses, is set to become "the barometer of China's continued economic recovery", said Jennifer Ye, PwC consumer markets leader for the Chinese mainland.
"A 'revenge buying' spree following COVID, and new consumption patterns such as direct sales via livestreaming and private domain operations, have driven demand and sales," she said. "We expect the sales to grow further this year with more intense competition among sellers."
