Alibaba’s Singles’ Day offers a lifeline to luxury brands, with Louis Vuitton and Dior buying into China’s annual Double 11 shopping festival to recoup Covid-19 losses

Alibaba’s annual shopping festival Double 11 – also known as China’s Singles’ Day – happens every year on November 11, and might be likened to the US’ Black Friday or the UK’s Boxing Day sales … on steroids.

According to CNBC, the 2019 edition achieved a whopping 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) – an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year.

Luxury brands globally have been suffering heavily from the Covid-19 pandemic, with malls closed and travel shopping suspended. According to LVMH’s third quarter revenue report, it recorded 30.3 billion euros (around US$35.5 billion) of revenue in its first nine months of 2020, slipping a full 21 per cent from the same period in 2019.

According to Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba – the owner of the South China Morning Post – “The Chinese luxury market – which is expected to account for half of global luxury sales by 2025 – consists of hundreds of millions of young, digitally-native consumers.”

As the industry bets on China for its 2020 sales recovery, the Singles’ Day shopping spree seems more important than ever, and the perfect opportunity for sellers to reconnect with Chinese consumers. Indeed, all evidence points to the fact that luxury brands are jumping on board this year with unparalleled enthusiasm.

Last year, more than 93 international luxury brands from across the spectrum joined the 2019 Singles’ Day sale, from beauty brands La Mer and SK-II, to fashion’s Ermenegildo Zegna and Fendi, Canada Goose and Maserati. This year, according to Retailinasia.com, that number has more than doubled to over 200 establishing a presence on Tmall, Taobao’s official platform for cooperating brands.