China’s “Double 11” shopping day has concluded with a bang, with Alibaba smashing its Singles’ Day record.
The e-commerce giant’s Taobao and T-mall, which are China’s largest online shopping platforms, recorded a sales volume exceeding a whopping $25 billion – a huge spike compared to last year’s $18 billion.
90% of customers, from 200 countries and regions worldwide, used mobile devices to carry out their purchases. Meanwhile, another online giant JD.com said its sales volume from November 1st to the 11th topped $19 billion.
It’s the ninth year of the national shopping spree. After years of development, Double 11 has gone far beyond the mere shopping promotion it began as. And now, so-called “new retailing” is the next step Alibaba is heading towards.
By stepping into retail areas such as home decor, supermarkets, and convenience stores, Alibaba is leading traditionally “offline” companies into the era of “new retailing”, which integrates online and offline business.
“There will be no clear boundaries between online and offline business, as long as they all serve the same purpose of fulfilling customer demand,” Liu Bo, Head of the Double 11 Event, told CGTN’s Hu Nan.
“Also we are promoting the best performing and most reputable T-Mall shops to overseas markets, to bring Chinese brands and the Double 11 campaign to the world.”
From 50 million RMB in 2009 to 120 billion RMB in 2016, the Double 11 campaign definitely stimulates the national economy – especially for those who stay up late to click and buy.
Alibaba
Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company that provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. It also provides electronic payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services.
The group began in 1999 when Jack Ma founded the website Alibaba.com, a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers.
