Without the razzmatazz, will Singles’ Day be able to retain its appeal amid changing shopper habits and new regulations?
- The traditionally extravagant event, with multibillion-dollar galas featuring appearances by celebrities, appeared much more low key this year
- With more shopping events throughout the year and a change in consumer habits under way, Singles’ Day is changing, analysts say
The spell that Singles’ Day casts over Chinese shoppers appears to have lost some of its potency.
The world’s biggest online shopping event may remain popular but the hedonistic self-indulgence has been toned down a notch, replaced by the sober reality that China’s economy is still navigating a path out of the pandemic and that the industry faces regulatory challenges ahead, analysts say.
“I don’t think it is realistic to expect Singles’ Day to grow at the same pace that it did in the past, and the current economic environment has certainly created additional headwinds,” said Man Chung Cheung, research analyst at Insider Intelligence.
Alibaba Group Holding’s gross merchandise value (GMV) for this year’s Singles’ Day grew to a record 540.3 billion yuan (US$84.5 billion), marking 8.45 per cent year-on-year growth, the first single-digit GMV growth since the company created the shopping festival in 2009. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The traditionally extravagant event, with multibillion-dollar galas featuring appearances by celebrities including Taylor Swift and Mariah Carey, also appeared much more low key this year in the wake of a months-long crackdown by Beijing on Big Tech companies – in part aimed at limiting their power and influence.