Singles’ Day deals are more complicated, but shoppers are undeterred

Alibaba’s big shopping event broke sales records despite user complaints of spending more time collecting “meow coins” and calculating deposit returns

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Chinese consumers spent US$22 billion in the first nine hours of Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping event. (Picture: Handout)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 9:06pm, 11 Nov 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Every November 11, millions of Chinese internet users are glued to their smartphones as they try to get the best deals of the year on snacks, groceries and electronic devices. But shopping during the world’s largest online shopping event isn’t as easy as it used to be.

Singles’ Day, the shopping event that makes Black Friday look like a yard sale

Many shoppers have taken to social media to discuss the increasing complexity in getting the best Singles’ Day discounts. On Tmall, Alibaba’s Amazon-like platform that hosts big merchants and established brands, many items now require multiple steps for users to get the discounts they want.

Tmall is Alibaba’s answer to Amazon in China

(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)

Some vendors ask users to pay deposits days before November 11 with the promise that the value of deposits will increase when users make the purchase. So a 20 yuan (US$2.85) deposit, for instance, might count as 40 yuan (US$5.71) toward a purchase at checkout. Users can also redeem subsidies with their Tmall points, which they get from past purchases, and get coupons from individual shops.

“I just wanted to save a little money while there’s a discount, but I feel like the money’s not even enough to cure my hair loss from calculating the discount,” one Zhihu user wrote in a comment with more than 1,000 upvotes.

Zhihu, where people in China go to ask questions and get answers

The question on Q&A site Zhihu asks what people think of this year’s Singles’ Day and why it’s getting more complicated. With nearly 1,200 responses and 4 million views, many of the most upvoted posts complain that the event has been growing more time consuming and that many deals aren’t worth the trouble.