China's Singles Day shopping spree injects impetus into global economy

BEIJING -- With its record-breaking sales revenues, China's Singles Day shopping festival this year has injected fresh impetus into world economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.

E-commerce giant JD.com recorded a revenue of over 243.1 billion yuan (about $35.76 billion) between Nov 1 and 2:26 pm of Nov 11, while sales on Alibaba's e-commerce platform Tmall exceeded 498.2 billion yuan (about $74.73 billion) by the end of Nov 11, up 26 percent year-on-year.

This year's shopping event has attracted more than 800 million shoppers and 250,000 brands, according to Tmall, including 25,000 overseas businesses from more than 220 countries and regions.

"With overseas purchases hampered by the pandemic, the Singles Day shopping (event) has offered an optimal opportunity for Chinese consumers to buy overseas products, and may significantly boost sales for global brands and merchants," said Weng Yi, a researcher with Chinese think tank the Cathay Institute for Public Affairs.

After suffering huge sales dips from the COVID-19 pandemic, many South Korean cosmetics companies considered Singles Day as a great opportunity to bounce back, according to Digital Times, a South Korean media outlet.

Sulwhasoo, a subsidiary of cosmetics giant Amorepacific, exceeded 100 million yuan ($15 million) in sales in just three minutes after the start of its pre-sale event.

Connecting China and the rest of the world, the Chinese e-commerce and online shopping festival might be the future of digital innovation, said Karolina Kulach, a British market analyst.

An increasing number of British brands, including tea chain Whittard of Chelsea and grocer and clothing retailer Marks and Spencer, are entering the Chinese market by opening online shops, said the market analyst.

Singles Day embraced some changes to operate in the "new normal," said Sanae Uragami, a Japanese financial writer and part-time MBA teacher at Hosei University, noting that the new form of livestreaming e-commerce "brings new vitality to online promotion."

According to an estimate by US retail and tech consultancy Coresight Research, livestreaming sales in China will bring in about $125 billion this year, compared with $63 billion the previous year.