SHANGHAI - Chinese
shoppers snapped up food supplements, facial masks and baby milk
powder at the world's largest shopping festival, with brands
such as L'Oreal and Nestle among the biggest
winners, Alibaba data showed.
The Chinese e-commerce giant's annual Singles' Day shopping
blitz on Monday brought in a record 268.4 billion yuan ($38.38
billion) in sales, more than six times the amount of online
sales made in the United States on Black Friday last year.
It kicked off this year's 24-hour shopping bonanza with a
live performance by U.S. pop star Taylor Swift followed by the
live-streamed marketing of over 1,000 brands.
Alibaba said on Tuesday that 299 brands surpassed 100
million yuan in gross merchandise value, among them smartphone
makers Huawei Technologies and Apple, LVMH's
Givenchy, home appliance makers Dyson and Philips
and sportswear makers Nike and Under Armour
.
Food supplements were the most popular import product, while
sales of makeup, diapers and face wash were also strong.
Sales growth for the annual shopping festival this year
eased to 26%, the weakest since the event started in 2009, in a
reflection of how e-commerce sales in China have been slowing.
Analysts, however, said the growth rate had slightly beaten
their expectations, saying that more aggressive promotions, a
focus on attracting more customers from rural cities, and even
the overall slowing economy might have helped as people sought
to buy goods at discounted prices.
Deliverymen of JD.com work among parcels beside a road after the 11.11 Singles' Day shopping festival in downtown Beijing
Citic Securities had predicted a 20-25% expansion, while
Daiwa Capital Markets had an estimate of 23%.
"What's happened is that you've had a lot of consumers this
year being a little bit more careful about their purchasing
because the economy's slowing down," said Ben Cavender, managing
director of consultancy China Market Research Group.
"I think this year especially, people were kind of waiting
for Singles' Day and kind of waiting to make some of those
medium-sized purchases that they didn't want to pay full price
for."
Liu Xingliang, internet analyst at DCCI Data Center, who was
among guests invited to Alibaba's headquarters on the day of the
event, said the firm's efforts to reach smaller, lower-tier
cities with real bargains played a significant role.
"I saw them selling electronic tooth brushes at 9.9 yuan
($1.42), and 65-inch TV sets at 1,800 yuan ($257.36). People in
lower-tier cities and towns can afford these products and in
fact, they like big TVs more than city people, because they
usually have larger houses."
($1 = 6.9941 Chinese yuan renminbi)