 "Alibaba's breaks Singles' Day sales record; reaches 14 bn in 20 hours")
Making the Indian online e-commerce festival discounting bonanza look like a garage sale, Chinese marketplace behemoth Alibaba on Friday ('Singles’ Day') broke its own previous year’s record of $14.3 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), in a little less than 20 hours.
Singles' Day is a festival among Chinese youth, to celebrate the fact that they are proud of being single. The date, November 11, was chosen because the number one resembles an individual who is alone. This festival has gradually become one of the largest online shopping days in the world for Alibaba.
Taking a cue from the push to digital cash in India in the wake of the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 motes, the Chinese e-commerce giant told media its strategy in India would be to reinforce the payment infrastructure in the country. The company is the biggest investor in online mobile wallet giant Paytm, which has in the 48 hours, since the government's demonetisation, made major gains.
Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was also in Shenzhen, China, observing Singles’ Day sales. He also attended the gala dinner later.
According to sector insiders, Alibaba is keen on bringing a permutation of this sale in India whenever they enter the market. “This is bound to happen. On every Singles’ Day, the Jack Ma-led company makes mind-numbing GMV figures. This would definitely make its way to India,” a sector observer said.
While the three major online e-commerce entities in this country -- Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal -- made a combined GMV of close to $2.1 billion in their day's festival sale, the whole Indian marketplace system made close to $4 bn. Alibaba, during this year’s sale, made a billion dollars in GMV in the first five minutes and a little over $5.2 bn in the first hour.
Last year, Alibaba made more in GMV than both Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales combined in America. “This is the biggest online shopping festival in the world. The kind of innovations Alibaba has brought into the sale this year make it all the more exciting. Alibaba would initially start small in India but eventually they would bring in all that they offer in China,” added the insider.
The sale was started on Alibaba in 2009 and involves thousands of brands taking part. This year, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, sports legend David Beckham and wife Victoria, basketball star Kobe Bryant and pop-rock band One Republic were part of the 24-hour festival.
The world's biggest retail event featured six million products from 30,000 brands, sold by 40,000 merchants. From live fashion ramp shows to virtual reality (VR) shopping, Alibaba stepped it up quite a few notches this year. On its portal, it organised live ramp shows, from where people could order fashion apparel and accessories on a real-time basis. It also offered people the option to shop online using VR headsets. Customers only had to nod to pay, removing the need to take out the phone to make payments for the products bought.
Many global brands such as Apple, Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, Costco, Target and Maserati participated. Thousands of smaller brands from the US, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia were also part of the event.
Singles' Day madness
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