Singles' Day sales on Alibaba top $76b
Order rate hit record peak of 583,000 per second, while other Chinese firms hold own events
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Workers sorting packages at an automated logistics centre for Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com on Singles' Day in Beijing yesterday.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
HANGZHOU • Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding said orders made during its Singles' Day mega shopping festival had exceeded US$56 billion (S$76 billion) by yesterday morning, as consumers sought to cash in on a deluge of discounts.
Alibaba launched the annual online blitz earlier this year, with two primary discount periods taking place from Nov 1 through Nov 3 and again yesterday.
The company will calculate gross merchandise volume (GMV) over the full 11-day period, as opposed to the usual 24 hours.
As of 12.30am local time yesterday, the campaign's GMV had surpassed 372.3 billion yuan (S$76 billion), with the order rate hitting a record peak of 583,000 per second, Alibaba said.
It has said it will introduce more than two million new products, double last year's figure.
Other companies such as Douyin - the Chinese version of ByteDance's TikTok - JD.com and Pinduoduo are also holding their own Singles' Day shopping events.
JD.com, which started its shopping promotions on Nov 1, said it recorded 200 billion yuan worth of sales by nine minutes after midnight yesterday.
Electronics retailer Suning.com - part-owned by Alibaba - said it made 5 billion yuan in sales in the first 19 minutes of the day.
This year's shopping extravaganza comes a week after Alibaba lost almost US$76 billion of its market value following China's suspension of the US$37 billion listing of Ant Group, the financial technology firm Alibaba owns a third of.
It also takes place as China experiences an economic rebound after getting the coronavirus under control within its borders, following its emergence in Wuhan late last year.
Over 340 firms, including Apple, L'Oreal and Huawei, have exceeded 100 million yuan in sales, with 13 brands recording GMV above 1 billion yuan, Alibaba said.
Japan's Fast Retailing said its Uniqlo brand ranked top for womenswear and menswear on Alibaba marketplace Tmall.
Top categories of imported products by GMV as of 9am were food supplements, infant milk formula and beauty.
Event head of logistics Sun Jian told reporters that Alibaba was sanitising all parcels from abroad, given the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts expect this year to be a boon for luxury brands, as Chinese consumers accustomed to going overseas to buy high-end goods are now stuck at home due to coronavirus border closures.
Mr Andy Halliwell, retail analyst at digital consultancy Publicis Sapient, said in a client note: "The lack of consumer tourism which has hit European and US stalwarts like Harrods, Galeries Lafayette and Nordstrom will likely see bigger spending locally".
On China's Twitter-like Weibo, discussions around Singles' Day trended while a poll by Sina Entertainment, which garnered 174,000 respondents, found 76,000 people aimed to spend less than 1,000 yuan. Only 7,341 planned to dole out more than 10,000 yuan.
Alibaba first launched the shopping event in 2009 and has made it the world's biggest online sales festival, eclipsing Cyber Monday in the United States.
Last year, it recorded US$38.4 billion in GMV on the day.
Pop star Katy Perry made an appearance at the company's gala for the first time late on Tuesday, albeit via live stream, as travel restrictions on foreign visitors remain in place in China.
REUTERS