Some Hong Kong protesters plan to give Taobao’s Singles’ Day a miss
- The e-commerce bonanza has become an international phenomenon, with US$30 billion of goods sold last year
- But some shoppers in the city are shunning mainland Chinese businesses, no matter how big the discounts
The world’s biggest annual online shopping spree is happening on November 11 – Singles’ Day – but some young Hongkongers are threatening to boycott the massive discounts on the Taobao platform.
The annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on the Alibaba Group’s popular marketplace has been targeted by the city’s anti-government protesters, who have used online forum LIHKG to call for a boycott of mainland Chinese businesses and Made-in-China products.
But economists point out that Hong Kong shoppers make up only a tiny share of 11.11 shoppers and any boycott would have a minimal impact. Yet protest supporters say they want to register their objections to mainland-related businesses.
“It’s a way of showing our stance,” said production assistant Yami Leung Ching-yan, 26, insisting that businesses would know if Hongkongers stayed away.
The annual 24-hour sale has become an international phenomenon involving other companies and shopping sites, but Taobao has a leading role in wooing shoppers with steep discounts for a wide range of products.
Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post, expects to attract more than 500 million shoppers to this year’s Singles’ Day. As of June, it had about 860 million annual active consumers globally.