11.11, Singles' Day of 2015: news & updates

[ahojunk]

Singles' Day sales break records, again
2016-11-12 09:12 | Xinhua | Editor: Li Yan

Thirteen minutes after touching a screen, a buyer surnamed Huang in Foshan City, south China's Guangdong Province, received the juicer he ordered on China's largest e-commerce platform Alibaba, the first parcel delivered on the platform on this year's Singles' Day shopping spree.

Huang is one of the hundreds of thousands consumers staying up all night for online bargains on Singles' Day, China's annual online shopping fiesta.

As orders keep pouring in, sales on major e-commerce platforms across China quickly broke last year's records.

The first 10 billion yuan (1.47 billion U.S. dollars) was achieved in just six minutes 58 seconds on Alibaba, almost six minutes faster than last year. Just before 3:20 p.m., the number had surpassed 91.2 billion yuan, the whole-day sales volume for last year. At 6:55 p.m., the turnover expanded further to exceed 100 billion yuan.

By 8 p.m., flocks of customers had made 549 million orders on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.

Other online platforms such as JD.com, Gome, and Suning.com all exceeded previous records in the first few hours.

Seen by many as China's answer to Black Friday in the United States, Singles' Day has grown into a huge battle for market share among Chinese e-commerce companies.

The born-in-China shopping spree has now spread its name worldwide, with Alipay, China's largest online payment platform, now available in over 200 countries and regions, supporting transactions in 18 currencies.

Hu Bingjie, 22, read the message, among many online queries, as it came in. "Can you speak English?"

A buyer in Thailand had ordered 25 items of children's clothing from Hu's store and was poised to pay a 355 yuan delivery fee, but wanted to pay cash on delivery instead.

"If you want direct delivery you have to pay in advance," Hu replied, using a translator.

While overseas consumers are getting more skilled at digging for bargains on Chinese websites, domestic shoppers enjoy a wider variety of foreign produce thanks to the publicity of Singles' Day in overseas media.

This year, JD has worked with global supermarket chain Walmart to offer Chinese buyers quality overseas products. It has also inked partnership with Japanese logistics firm Yamato to speed up cross-border delivery.

At this year's G20 meeting, Alibaba forged collaboration with Canadian and Russian companies to expand its presence overseas. It also invested in Singapore Post to target consumers in Southeast Asia.

With easier access to overseas products, it is estimated that China's e-commerce market still has room to grow.

According to Internet industry research agency iResearch, China's online shopping market's sales volume was 1.1 trillion yuan in the second quarter, up 27.6 percent year on year. It is estimated the volume will exceed 1.5 trillion in the fourth quarter.

"E-commerce is leading the change in the global market," said Wang Jian, professor at the University of International Business and Economics. "The flow of global commodities through online purchases can help awaken the consumer market, which is good for the global retail industry."

The shopping spree sheds light on the huge purchasing power of Chinese consumers and the strong domestic demand leads to optimism over economic prospects, said Guo Tianyong, a professor with the Central University of Finance and Economics.

 

[Rasengan]

True, we should have, but in reality, too many Chinese people take this 30 years of unprecedented development in human history for granted. One of my relatives was laughing at "Chinese Dream" just because some of his posts were deleted and other minor inconveniences . Being a multi-millionaire (owning a few condos worth $1 million each, clean and free), he has no idea that he has already fulfilled a dream that is much bigger than "American Dream" , which so many Americans have already given up dreaming.

In my opinion these people are short-sighted and have a big ego problem. Many rich people do exists in China and the middle class is rising, however, they would be worthless in monetary terms without Government reform. Okay, maybe one of your relatives is angry that his post was deleted, however, when has China run on democracy in the last 5000 years? Chinese people should be content with their own system rather than looking at the West for guidance. Its good to be critical of the Government, but it has to be within a certain boundary. China is a big country with a big population, so it can't afford to have dissent. You will be surprise to know that the Government system in China is quite similar to the proper Caliphate system.

I hate when people moan for no logical reason. Did these people who whine against the Government fight the hawkish elements of the CCP who were against economic reform during the 80s? Clearly the answer is no, and credit should be given to Deng Xiaoping. The Chinese people should remember that although they have prosperity don't forget the pass and sacrifices of your elders. Most of the time having money is good, but people live in the bubble instead of the real world.

 

[AndrewJin]

China is a big country with a big population

@long_

 

[SBUS-CXK]

I sometime give too much credit to human intelligence
I was hoping someone ask me which Indian Web giant

Bro. don't take it seriously, @Dungeness is in the irony. I see it out... The Chinese art of satire is the first in the world. And won't see it very clearly.
But if you think carefully, you will understand.
@Dungeness the use of Alibaba a day of turnover compared to all of India's IT company a year of turnover.
This is the irony to India "IT country" propaganda.

 

[AndrewJin]

Bro. don't take it seriously, @Dungeness is in the irony. I see it out... The Chinese art of satire is the first in the world. And won't see it very clearly.
But if you think carefully, you will understand.
@Dungeness the use of Alibaba a day of turnover compared to all of India's IT company a year of turnover.
This is the irony to India "IT country" propaganda.

Seriously, this is not irony.
It is a huge achievement to set up the call centre industry for the english-speaking countries.
Such IT industry is the biggest in the world.

 

[beijingwalker]

Drones, high-speed trains, virtual reality...China's Singles Day makes changes to shopping

 

[Jlaw]

True, we should have, but in reality, too many Chinese people take this 30 years of unprecedented development in human history for granted. One of my relatives was laughing at "Chinese Dream" just because some of his posts were deleted and other minor inconveniences . Being a multi-millionaire (owning a few condos worth $1 million each, clean and free), he has no idea that he has already fulfilled a dream that is much bigger than "American Dream" , which so many Americans have already given up dreaming.

You should always let them know how lucky they are. Many people in Canada and US do not own condos worth 1million let alone two. The ones who do own it have huge mortgages on them. One pay check away from not being able to make their needs.

Exactly "taken for granted." As if it has happened by sheer accident of history with no constructive input by government officials, workers, academicians, and public servants.

If some posts being deleted is denting one's China Dream to the point of mockery, then they might be opting for an Indian-style corrupt-cracy or US style neo-fascist corporocracy.

Incredible how some people are historically unconscious.

These people need to be sent to the US for re-education. They will learn just how tough paying off one house is, let alone two

 

[Dungeness]

You should always let them know how lucky they are. Many people in Canada and US do not own condos worth 1million let alone two. The ones who do own it have huge mortgages on them. One pay check away from not being able to make their needs.


These people need to be sent to the US for re-education. They will learn just how tough paying off one house is, let alone two

20 years ago, they literally had nothing. Any "overseas Chinese" or "Taiwanese /Hongkongness" would be considered rich people. While the income for an average American family has not increased in the past 20 years, an average Chinese have seen his net-worth increased by 10-20 folds.

They don't know how lucky they are, and take credit themselves for their good fortune, while blaming the Gov. for any trivial inconvenience. There are many people like him in China, and a good part of them the users of Neteasy's forum readers. They have no idea how many Americans would want to trade their "right to vote" for the prosperity that Chinese have been enjoying.

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese couriers handle 251 mln packages on Singles' Day
(Xinhua) 01:25, November 13, 2016


Chinese postal and courier companies handled a total of 251 million packages on Singles' Day, the world's largest online shopping day.

The figure was 52 percent more than the previous year, the State Post Bureau said in a statement.

The bureau forecast couriers will handle more than 1.05 billion packages from the Singles' Day on Friday to Nov. 16, up 35 percent from a year earlier.

The surge in packages will weigh on the country's logistic system, especially in the first three days after the shopping spree started, the statement said.

This year's shopping festival smashed lots of previous records. China's 16 major e-commerce sites recorded 177 billion yuan (about 26 billion U.S. dollars) in sales during the 24 hours, according to data provider Syntun.

 

[ahojunk]

Courier services scrambling to deal with Singles Day shopping spree
2016-11-11 17:00 | Xinhua | Editor:Li Yan

Staff members work at logistic center in Lin'an City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Hu Jianhuan)

Staff members of an e-commerce company handle the orders at an industrial park in Taizhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Tang Dehong)

Staff members of an e-commerce food company package the products in Taicang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Ji Haixin)

Staff members work at a logistic center in Zaozhuang City, east China's Shandong Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Shu Zhongzhe)

 

[Beast]

Courier services scrambling to deal with Singles Day shopping spree
2016-11-11 17:00 | Xinhua | Editor:Li Yan

View attachment 351604
Staff members work at logistic center in Lin'an City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Hu Jianhuan)


View attachment 351606
Staff members of an e-commerce company handle the orders at an industrial park in Taizhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Tang Dehong)


View attachment 351607
Staff members of an e-commerce food company package the products in Taicang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Ji Haixin)


View attachment 351609
Staff members work at a logistic center in Zaozhuang City, east China's Shandong Province, Nov. 11, 2016. The e-commerce companies and courier services are scrambling to deal with the orders placed during the Singles Day shopping spree. Singles Day, which started as an "anti-Valentine's" celebration for single people in China back in the 1990s, was adopted by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2009 and has since become the world's biggest online shopping day. (Xinhua/Shu Zhongzhe)

If I am jack ma. I will not be so actively promoting single day next year.

 

[cirr]

If I am jack ma. I will not be so actively promoting single day next year.

Might as well split Singles' Day into 12 days: 1.1, 2.2, 3.3, 4.4, 5.5, 6.6, 7.7, 8.8, 9.9, 10,10, 11.11 and 12.12.

 

[AndrewJin]

If I am jack ma. I will not be so actively promoting single day next year.

Everyday should be festivals for shopping.
Another tendency is the convergence of online and offline shopping.
You buy a wash machine in Sunning.com and Sunning's physical store, same price.
VR is also facilitating such convergence.

 

[TaiShang]

Alibaba sales to equal to fifth-largest economy
By Chen Qingqing Source: Global Times
Published: 2016/11/14 0:13:39

Challenges remain in cross-border trade and regulations

Source: askci.com Graphics: GT

After setting a new record at the annual "Singles' Day" online shopping event, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding will generate value that is equivalent to the fifth-largest economy in the future. Industry experts lauded the feat as "unprecedented" but also cautioned about future challenges.

The company surpassed 3 trillion yuan ($440 billion) in annual gross merchandise volume (GMV) for fiscal year 2016, a year-on-year increase of 27 percent, and it is expected to generate more than tens of billions in its daily GMV, mainly driven by this year's "Singles' Day," also known as double 11, shopping festival, Alibaba said in a press release sent to the Global Times during the weekend. Based on the current growth rate, the company will help create a "new economy" that combines billions of individuals and millions of enterprises worldwide, and size up to the equivalent of a GDP just behind the US, China, the EU and Japan, the release noted, without providing a timeframe.

A company's output can't be compared to a country's GDP, as the company still faces uncertainties in its corporate operations, but the business model that Alibaba has created will certainly have a significant impact on enterprises not only in China but also overseas, Zhang Yi, CEO of Guangzhou-based market research firm iiMedia Research, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"In the past decade, the e-commerce model has been playing a major role in solving the problem of asymmetric information in the marketplace, but it will focus more and more on how to better integrate online and offline sectors in the future, which will reshape global economic and trade landscape," he said.

Alibaba's business-to-consumer platform Tmall recorded a daily sales volume of 120.7 billion yuan on Friday. The 24-hour event this year covered 235 countries and regions, and 94 brands broke sales records of over 100 million yuan, the press release showed. For example, Japanese retailer Uniqlo surpassed 100 million yuan in online sales in less than three minutes, and multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH also exceeded expectations, for example its affiliated brand Guerlain broke monthly sales record in 12 minutes on the day.

Alibaba will maintain its growth momentum in the next five years as online retail has not reached the "growth ceiling" yet, said Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent industry expert. "Meanwhile, Alibaba is helping create hundreds and thousands jobs, which could also be seen as a contribution to the world development," he told the Global Times on Sunday.

Challenges remain

However, global trade has been sliding in recent years, and this year the growth will be the slowest since the financial crisis, according to the WTO estimates in September. To boost cross-border transactions, Alibaba included "buy globally, sell globally" in its strategy for this year's Double 11 shopping razzmatazz, which is in line with the group's founder Jack Ma Yun's proposal of building an electronic world trade platform (eWTP).

The eWTP would help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome complex regulations, processes and barriers that hinder their participation in global commerce.

While pushing forward this idea, Alibaba has been facing mounting pressure from foreign regulators. For example, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently probed the counterfeit goods on its platform, which could be seen as a result of the trade frictions between the countries, Liu said, noting however that there is no need to exaggerate the aftermath of this conflict, as the current success of Alibaba will eventually help the real economy, or the SMEs, to upgrade their business models and generate more profits.

Alibaba is not the only e-commerce giant that aims at connecting the world and trying to build a global business cycle, "US e-commerce platform Amazon has been doing the same thing for years, but the outcome is not as good as expected," Zhang Yi said.

Zhang noted that like Amazon, the Chinese company's overseas business still accounts for a small part of its overall business due to barriers in international trade.

"Finding complementary areas for doing business is crucial for Alibaba, as shown by JD.com, another Chinese online supplier, which has purchased some of overseas retail marketplaces to better serve the diversified demand in China," he said.

 

[Dungeness]

Alibaba sales to equal to fifth-largest economy
By Chen Qingqing Source: Global Times
Published: 2016/11/14 0:13:39

Challenges remain in cross-border trade and regulations

Source: askci.com Graphics: GT

After setting a new record at the annual "Singles' Day" online shopping event, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding will generate value that is equivalent to the fifth-largest economy in the future. Industry experts lauded the feat as "unprecedented" but also cautioned about future challenges.

The company surpassed 3 trillion yuan ($440 billion) in annual gross merchandise volume (GMV) for fiscal year 2016, a year-on-year increase of 27 percent, and it is expected to generate more than tens of billions in its daily GMV, mainly driven by this year's "Singles' Day," also known as double 11, shopping festival, Alibaba said in a press release sent to the Global Times during the weekend. Based on the current growth rate, the company will help create a "new economy" that combines billions of individuals and millions of enterprises worldwide, and size up to the equivalent of a GDP just behind the US, China, the EU and Japan, the release noted, without providing a timeframe.

A company's output can't be compared to a country's GDP, as the company still faces uncertainties in its corporate operations, but the business model that Alibaba has created will certainly have a significant impact on enterprises not only in China but also overseas, Zhang Yi, CEO of Guangzhou-based market research firm iiMedia Research, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"In the past decade, the e-commerce model has been playing a major role in solving the problem of asymmetric information in the marketplace, but it will focus more and more on how to better integrate online and offline sectors in the future, which will reshape global economic and trade landscape," he said.

Alibaba's business-to-consumer platform Tmall recorded a daily sales volume of 120.7 billion yuan on Friday. The 24-hour event this year covered 235 countries and regions, and 94 brands broke sales records of over 100 million yuan, the press release showed. For example, Japanese retailer Uniqlo surpassed 100 million yuan in online sales in less than three minutes, and multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH also exceeded expectations, for example its affiliated brand Guerlain broke monthly sales record in 12 minutes on the day.

Alibaba will maintain its growth momentum in the next five years as online retail has not reached the "growth ceiling" yet, said Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent industry expert. "Meanwhile, Alibaba is helping create hundreds and thousands jobs, which could also be seen as a contribution to the world development," he told the Global Times on Sunday.

Challenges remain

However, global trade has been sliding in recent years, and this year the growth will be the slowest since the financial crisis, according to the WTO estimates in September. To boost cross-border transactions, Alibaba included "buy globally, sell globally" in its strategy for this year's Double 11 shopping razzmatazz, which is in line with the group's founder Jack Ma Yun's proposal of building an electronic world trade platform (eWTP).

The eWTP would help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome complex regulations, processes and barriers that hinder their participation in global commerce.

While pushing forward this idea, Alibaba has been facing mounting pressure from foreign regulators. For example, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently probed the counterfeit goods on its platform, which could be seen as a result of the trade frictions between the countries, Liu said, noting however that there is no need to exaggerate the aftermath of this conflict, as the current success of Alibaba will eventually help the real economy, or the SMEs, to upgrade their business models and generate more profits.

Alibaba is not the only e-commerce giant that aims at connecting the world and trying to build a global business cycle, "US e-commerce platform Amazon has been doing the same thing for years, but the outcome is not as good as expected," Zhang Yi said.

Zhang noted that like Amazon, the Chinese company's overseas business still accounts for a small part of its overall business due to barriers in international trade.

"Finding complementary areas for doing business is crucial for Alibaba, as shown by JD.com, another Chinese online supplier, which has purchased some of overseas retail marketplaces to better serve the diversified demand in China," he said.

Something doesn't add up. Alibaba's annual GMV is only $440 billion, less than 1/4 of India's GDP, how can it be the 5th largest economy?