China's Singles' Day shopping binge soars by mid-morning

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=h0503nvi6ae&width=500&height=375&auto=0Shoppers were on track for a record buying spree after early sales on China's Singles' Day.

E-commerce giant Alibaba saw its sales hit 17 billion US dollars by mid-morning on Saturday after racing to a billion dollars two minutes past midnight, seconds after the nation's annual shopping frenzy began. Last year’s total was 17.7 billion US dollars.

Once a celebration for China’s lonely hearts, Singles’ Day has become a 24-hour extravaganza that outsells Black Friday and Cyber Monday US sales combined, an end-of year inventory clearing sales event that acts as a barometer for China’s consumers.

In the coming week, delivery men will be flooded with an estimated 1.5 billion parcels.

Over 90 percent of the transactions so far were made on mobile devices, the company says, marking a successful campaign to compel people to shop whenever they feel the urge.

“This is a big event for China, for the Chinese economy,” Joseph Tsai, Alibaba’s co-founder and vice chairman, said ahead of the sales bonanza. “On Singles’ Day, shopping is a sport, it’s entertainment.”

Tsai said rising disposable incomes of China’s “over 300 million middle-class consumers” was helping drive the company’s online sales – and would continue. “This powerful group is propelling the consumption of China,” he said.

Other online shopping platforms, and some brick and mortal shops, as well as on demand service providers, were also hosting promotion events as consumers get in the mood for spending. 

Alibaba's chief rival Jd.com, the second largest business to consumer (B2C) site in the nation, said its sales registered at over 100 billion yuan at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.

However, analysts believe that as the party goes on, competition for consumer's pockets may get rough, and merchants are already devising methods to lock in buyers. 

Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal at China Market Research Group, noted that brands were being more careful with the deals they have on offer this year to avoid “margins getting killed,” and were often asking for deposits in advance.