Page 12 - aruba-today-20201111

A12 TECHNOLOGY
Wednesday 11 november 2020
Chinese shoppers splurge in world's largest shopping fest

"I'm buying more snacks
this year because I've just
moved into a new apart-
ment and have enough
storage space to stockpile
the snacks I like," said Tang.
"Some of these products
are really cheap during the
Singles' Day discounts."
Unlike Black Friday and
Cyber Monday in the U.S.,
Singles' Day in China is not
just about deep bargains.
Alibaba pioneered the
concept of Singles' Day
and holds an annual gala
on Nov. 11 with celebrity
performances to entertain
shoppers.
E-commerce companies
don't break down Singles
Day sales volume by brands
so it is hard to know what
share goes to foreign com-
panies, though some com-
panies might announce
their own performances.
A delivery man passes by an ad for the Nov. 11 Sales Day in Beijing, China on Oct. 28, 2020. Sales via livestreaming and
Associated Press Alibaba's annual gala are
part of a "shoppertainment"
By ZEN SOO cumulative sales of 200 virus pandemic and tight- luxury. trend which blends shop-
AP Technology Writer billion yuan ($30.2 billion) ened travel restrictions. Sales of electronic goods ping with entertainment in
HONG KONG (AP) — Chi- since Nov. 1, nine minutes A survey by consulting firm and health and wellness order to become more ap-
nese consumers are ex- after the clock struck mid- Oliver Wyman found that products are also expect- pealing and engaging to
pected to spend tens of night on Wednesday. 86% of Chinese consum- ed to rise, as more people shoppers.
billions on everything from The shopping festival got ers are willing to spend the work from home and pay Mini games within online
fresh food to luxury goods its name as the main shop- same as or more than dur- more attention to their shopping platforms entice
during this year's Singles' ping day falls on Nov. 11 ing last year's Singles' Day health amid the pandem- shoppers with deeper dis-
Day online shopping festi- every year. Also known festival. ic, according to a report by counts while encouraging
val, as the country recovers as 11.11 or Double 11, the "In the last six months or consultancy Bain & Com- them to spend more time
from the pandemic. numbers look like "bare so, wealthy households pany. within the app.
The shopping festival, branches", an expression have actually spent more To help merchants cope "Because of COVID-19,
which is the world's largest referring to those who are money," said Sean Shen, with the impact from the brands and retailers have
and typically begins in No- single and unattached in customer and strategy coronavirus, online plat- doubled down on e-com-
vember, is an annual ex- China. The day thus later competence leader for EY forms have extended the merce and livestreaming
travaganza where China's became known as Singles' in Greater China. "We also shopping festival period commerce to drive growth,
e-commerce companies, Day. see that purchases of lux- this year in hopes of boost- and it will show strongly on
including Alibaba, JD.com This year's festival will be ury segment products are ing sales. (Singles' Day) this year,"
and Pinduoduo, offer gen- closely watched as a ba- increasing because of the Both Alibaba and JD.com, said Wang Xiaofeng, a se-
erous discounts on their rometer of consumption in international travel restric- the country's two biggest nior analyst at Forrester.
platforms. China, which is just begin- tions." e-commerce companies, But while millions of shop-
By 12:30 a.m. (1630 GMT, ning to bounce back from In 2018, Chinese consum- began offering discounts pers spend hours on mini
11:30 a.m. EDT) on Wednes- the coronavirus pandemic ers spent about 770 bil- on Oct. 21, three weeks games hoping to snag
day, consumers had al- after months of lockdown lion yuan ($116.3 billion) ahead of Nov. 11. Some better bargains, some are
ready spent 372.3 billion earlier in the year. on luxury items, account- brands and merchants that irked by the complexities
yuan ($56.3 billion) on Al- Analysts expect Chinese ing for about a third of the slashed their prices booked required to win such dis-
ibaba's Taobao and Tmall consumers to spend more global spend, with each hundreds of millions of yuan counts.
e-commerce platforms on imported products and luxury-consuming house- (tens of millions of dollars) "Black Friday discounts tend
since the company kicked foreign luxury brands, since hold spending an average in sales just hours into the to be better, and they are
off the shopping festival on many Chinese tourists were of 80,000 yuan annually shopping festival. more straightforward," said
Nov. 1. unable to travel interna- ($12,089), according to a Tang Chenghui, an electri- Liu Zhirou, a 27 year-old
Rival JD.com also reported tionally due to the corona- 2019 McKinsey report on cal engineer who lives in Beijing-based accountant.
Beijing sees Singles' Day as "Now, I still ask my friends to
an opportunity to stock up help me buy things from the
on snacks and imported U.S. during Black Friday."
products such as milk from "The rules around Singles'
Australia. Ahead of the Day discounts now are get-
festival, Tang pre-ordered ting more and more com-
3 boxes of duck eggs, 10 plicated," she said. "I usually
packets of soybean milk just spend my money on
powder, two boxes of yo- Black Friday, and buy less
gurt, coffee and wine. on Singles' Day."q