Alibaba raked in US$84.5 billion in orders, or gross merchandise value (GMV), at its 11-day Singles’ Day sales event, up 14% from a year ago. This is the slowest rate of growth since the ecommerce giant started the festival in 2009.
In comparison, rival JD.com reported a GMV of US$54.6 billion, a 28% growth in sales from the same period last year. In the first 10 minutes after the final sales spike started on November 10, sales of 600 apparel brands on the platform increased 8x from the previous year.
The slow growth in Alibaba’s Singles’ Day comes amid the crackdown by Chinese authorities on big tech firms in the country. This is the first Singles’ Day sale since state regulators started hitting the country’s tech companies with fines and warnings for anti-competitive practices.
Photo credit: asphoto777 / 123RF
Earlier this week, a local market regulator warned 16 ecommerce players, including those under Alibaba and Meituan, of “unfair competition” ahead of the annual Singles’ Day sale. The regulator has established guidelines to keep firms from committing “malpractice.”
In the wake of regulatory tightening by Chinese authorities, Alibaba toned down its marketing efforts for the sale and said its focus was on sustainable growth this year, according to a Reuters report. It also reportedly played down its sales figures and pushed its social welfare initiatives during the final hours of its Singles’ Day event.
See also: Why Alibaba is betting on Vietnam to reclaim Southeast Asian ecommerce
Beijing also wants tech companies to contribute more to society, with the major themes this year being green logistics, eco-friendly products, and consuming “with care.”
In response, Alibaba’s Tmall app gave out “green vouchers” for discounts on energy-efficient and low-impact goods. The company’s logistics unit also offered to recycle packaging waste at 60,000 pickup stations across China.
Singles’ Day has evolved from a one-day shopping event into weeks of promotions that bring in more revenue than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. The event has become so popular that it has been adopted by several other ecommerce firms in China and across Southeast Asia.
Editing by Collin Furtado and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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