Singles’ Day: online shopping becoming China’s new normal as record sales build on pandemic boost
- Online sales accounted for 24.3 per cent of all sales in the first nine months of the year, and the trend looks to continue with a strong fourth quarter
- Disincentives for shopping in stores remain even though China has largely recovered from the coronavirus health crisis
Online shopping is becoming increasingly commonplace in Chinese consumers’ lives, and nowhere was that more evident than the Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza that peaked on Wednesday.
E-commerce had already seen a massive boost this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, with shoppers reluctant or unable to venture out to bricks-and-mortar stores.
Singles’ Day – the November 11 celebration that gets its name from the four ones in 11.11 – annually generates far more revenue than that of the comparable Black Friday in the United States. And this year, Singles’ Day built on the momentum of past years to once again post record sales.
With about seven weeks still remaining in the year, 2020 looks to shatter the previous annual high-water marks for online sales, which have undoubtedly been the saving grace of overall Chinese consumer spending this year.
In the first three quarters, overall retail sales fell 7.2 per cent year on year, as in-store sales plunged 13.4 per cent from the same period in 2019. But online sales remained resilient, growing 15.1 per cent compared with a year earlier.