The popularity of products like facial spa machines, carpet cleaners and underwear washers amid fears of Covid-19 and widespread home quarantine helped boost sales during this year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival, according to data released by the Tmall platform run by Alibaba Group Holding.
As many as 148 product categories on Tmall reported turnover growth of over 100 per cent from 8pm on October 31 to midnight November 11 – the key shopping period for the Singles’ Day festival – with other popular items including traditional Chinese costumes and home cleaning items, according to selected data released by Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post. It marked a clear difference from last year when camping equipment topped the charts.
The e-commerce giant kicked off its second checkout time for this year’s Singles’ Day at 8pm on Thursday, with sales of facial spa devices surging 56-fold year on year, while carpet cleaning products recorded a 30-fold increase in sales.
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In another sign of increased awareness of personal health, smartwatch sales increased 120 per cent, while sales of eyesight-friendly lamps doubled. XR equipment, a new product for consumers to immerse themselves in the metaverse, reported 140 per cent sales growth on Tmall, Alibaba said.
JD.com, a rival e-commerce platform, reported that it sold 1 billion yuan (US$138.3 million) worth of iPhones “within the first minute” of its Singles’ Day campaign.
People shopping during a November 11 Singles’ Day promotion at a clothing store in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo: SCMP/ Dickson Lee alt=People shopping during a November 11 Singles’ Day promotion at a clothing store in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo: SCMP/ Dickson Lee>
Alibaba, which created the shopping festival in 2009, stopped disclosing overall Singles’ Day sales data last year. The figure, which has been seen as a barometer on the health of China’s e-commerce industry, was likely withheld because it does not paint a rosy picture.
Although overall headline growth is not as strong as previous years, analysts are studying sales of specific products and categories to gauge trends in the world’s second largest economy.
HSBC economists Jing Liu and Erin Xin wrote in a note on Friday that Singles’ Day could “provide some useful pointers about spending patterns and the overall consumer market”.
“The current outlook is gloomy” for consumer spending in China as retail sales growth remained well below pre-pandemic levels, and the “overall sentiment remains weak, with consumer confidence at near record low levels”, they said.
“The simple fact is that the consumer market has matured and the days of 30 per cent growth in Singles’ Day GMV are behind us,” said Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, an e-commerce and technology consultancy. “But we’re still anticipating 8 to 12 per cent growth in GMV across all platforms.”
Competition remains fierce amid the economic slowdown, so price incentives are seen as the best way to lure reluctant shoppers. Tmall, for instance, is providing a 50 yuan discount for every 300 yuan spent. Consumers who enroll in the Tmall membership system also receive extra coupons, such as a 120 yuan discount for any orders exceeding 1,500 yuan.
“Overall consumption is not posting great numbers due to lower service and travel spend, but this festival shows high demand for essential and discretionary products from a wide range of sectors,” said Cooke.
Separately, Alibaba said that from midnight October 31 to noon on November 10, the average daily number of views generated by new live streaming hosts on Taobao Live increased 561 per cent year on year.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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