China’s leading online retailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd set a record for its one day sale revenues on its annual Singles’ Day discounted sale by selling goods worth 213.5 billion yuan ($30.7 billion). The largest e-retailer of the company was that its early sale on Single’s Day saw Xiaomi Corp., Apple Inc. and Dyson Ltd products being the top sellers.
This annual sale day which was originally started targeting the singles of China has now turned out to be an indicator of health not only for Alibaba but for the Chinese economy as well. In the midst of the growing trade tensions between China and the United States, that has had an impact on the sentiments of financial markets, this year’s Single’s Day sale gives an indication of the consumer sentiment in China.
According to Alibaba’s news website, the 100 billion yuan mark was crossed by Alibaba in less than two hours into the Singles’ Day gala sale.
“We can feel that merchants are fully embracing the internet and helping with consumption upgrade,” Daniel Zhang , Alibaba’s chief executive officer, told reporters in Shanghai.
The trade war and an apparently slowing Chinese economy presented a challenge for billionaire Jack Ma and his lieutenant Zhang, of notching up another record in revenues from the single day sale which has been a success since the last decade. Alibaba is also looking at new revenue growth engines in the face of growing competition from smaller platforms such as JD.com Inc. and Pinduoduo Inc and saturated markets.
“Alibaba is making use of all of its platforms to make Singles’ Day a holiday that also includes dining and entertainment,” Jet Jing, president of Tmall, one of the company’s main sites, said at the Singles’ Day event. “We’re connecting online shopping with offline physical outlets.”
It was a decade ago that Alibaba co-founder Ma and Zhang had conceived of the Singles’ Day sale where the company intended to transform the counter-cultural holiday into an option for buyers for accessing highly discounted products. The Single’s Day, considered to be an antidote to the sentimentality of Valentine’s Day, was initially popularized by college students. The name of the day is based on the manner in which the very day is numerically written - 11/11, which resembles “bare branches” which is in fact a local expression for the unattached or the single. The day now has however turned out to become a shopping day for as well as a day to eat and binge on entertainment shows. The popularity of the day can be gauged form the fact that environmentalists are have raised concerns of environmental damage because of the enormous packaging waste from shipments of sales from the day. This year Alibaba expects to ship 1 billion packages.
Despite the rocking show this Single’s Day, the Chinese e-retailing industry is facing a number headwinds because of the escalating trade war with the US and the slowing of the Chinese economy because of deflating asset values. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there has also been a slowdown in the growth of Chinese online retail sales at 24% in the third quarter which is 12 per cent lower compared to the previous three months.
(Source:www.livemint.com)
This annual sale day which was originally started targeting the singles of China has now turned out to be an indicator of health not only for Alibaba but for the Chinese economy as well. In the midst of the growing trade tensions between China and the United States, that has had an impact on the sentiments of financial markets, this year’s Single’s Day sale gives an indication of the consumer sentiment in China.
According to Alibaba’s news website, the 100 billion yuan mark was crossed by Alibaba in less than two hours into the Singles’ Day gala sale.
“We can feel that merchants are fully embracing the internet and helping with consumption upgrade,” Daniel Zhang , Alibaba’s chief executive officer, told reporters in Shanghai.
The trade war and an apparently slowing Chinese economy presented a challenge for billionaire Jack Ma and his lieutenant Zhang, of notching up another record in revenues from the single day sale which has been a success since the last decade. Alibaba is also looking at new revenue growth engines in the face of growing competition from smaller platforms such as JD.com Inc. and Pinduoduo Inc and saturated markets.
“Alibaba is making use of all of its platforms to make Singles’ Day a holiday that also includes dining and entertainment,” Jet Jing, president of Tmall, one of the company’s main sites, said at the Singles’ Day event. “We’re connecting online shopping with offline physical outlets.”
It was a decade ago that Alibaba co-founder Ma and Zhang had conceived of the Singles’ Day sale where the company intended to transform the counter-cultural holiday into an option for buyers for accessing highly discounted products. The Single’s Day, considered to be an antidote to the sentimentality of Valentine’s Day, was initially popularized by college students. The name of the day is based on the manner in which the very day is numerically written - 11/11, which resembles “bare branches” which is in fact a local expression for the unattached or the single. The day now has however turned out to become a shopping day for as well as a day to eat and binge on entertainment shows. The popularity of the day can be gauged form the fact that environmentalists are have raised concerns of environmental damage because of the enormous packaging waste from shipments of sales from the day. This year Alibaba expects to ship 1 billion packages.
Despite the rocking show this Single’s Day, the Chinese e-retailing industry is facing a number headwinds because of the escalating trade war with the US and the slowing of the Chinese economy because of deflating asset values. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there has also been a slowdown in the growth of Chinese online retail sales at 24% in the third quarter which is 12 per cent lower compared to the previous three months.
(Source:www.livemint.com)
