/ world today news/ After this year’s Chinese “Black Friday” – November 11, which is considered the largest such event in the world, the post office and some of the e-commerce giants reported “record numbers”, while others boasted “positive growth ‘, highlighting the strong purchasing power of Chinese consumers.
In its 15 years, China’s Black Friday has become a reliable barometer of consumer sentiment. Although final sales figures are not yet out and consumer enthusiasm appears relatively low compared to previous years, various highlights, including the rise of local brands, underscore the changing trends of China’s consumer market.
In any case, overall sales, which are expected to post double-digit growth, highlight the recovery in consumption in China, analysts said. Although many e-commerce platforms have since last year stopped reporting gross merchandise value (GMV) for their sales on November 11, they offered different highlights on Sunday.
One of the market leaders, JD.com, said in a press release that “the volume of transactions and the number of users has reached a new peak,” without specifying specific figures.
The State Post Office reported that 639 million packages were processed on November 11 alone, which was 1.87 times the volume on normal days and 15.76 percent more than the same period last year. Between November 1 and 11, shipment volume increased by 23.22 percent year-on-year. The other e-commerce giant
Alibaba also said its Taobao and Tmall platforms saw “positive growth” during Black Friday. “Over the entire campaign period, Taobao and Tmall recorded positive year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value, number of orders and participating merchants compared to the same period last year,” the company said in a press release.
Various other online platforms, including live streaming sites such as Kuaishou and Douyin, also reported strong sales figures. Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, said its average daily gross merchandise value and order volume increased by more than 50 percent, although it also did not provide specific sales figures.
“Judging from what has been reported, it seems that sales have been quite stable, with particularly large increases in gross merchandise volume for certain brands, and some even set new records,” said Prof. Li Chang’an of the University of International Business and economy, adding that the rise in Black Friday sales was an important sign of a recovery in consumption.
The total number of sales of all Chinese e-commerce platforms is not usually available, but various global consulting companies often publish forecasts after the end of Black Friday.
According to a recent report by US consulting firm Bain, sales on November 11 last year reached 1.15 trillion yuan ($157.97 billion). That figure is more than four times the $35.3 billion spent by U.S. shoppers during Cyber Week, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, according to Reuters.
For this year’s Nov. 11, some global consulting firms forecast sales growth of between 14 and 18 percent, which would mark a return to double-digit growth for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, a Reuters report said. The agency also recalled some pessimistic predictions from earlier that Nov. 11 could “lose its luster” amid pressure on China’s economy.
In China itself, discussions about November 11 seem to have decreased compared to previous years, and many people said they did not plan to shop on that date because of other similar events and platforms that offer year-round discounts. However, some consumers continued to spend big on Black Friday, both out of necessity and because of deep discounts.
Economic commentator Tien Yun said this year’s Nov. 11 sales were “actually quite stable” and reflected strong consumer purchasing power, China’s industrial upgrading, as well as the effect of various consumption support measures. This – in his words – shows that “the economy is in a stage of slow ascent after the pandemic and consumption is still recovering”.
The Chinese government has taken a number of measures this year to boost consumption as it has become the biggest driver of economic growth. In July, 20 measures were announced to boost domestic consumption, including household spending on everything from housing to household appliances. Thanks to that, in the first nine months overall retail sales in China rose 6.8 percent year-on-year, with online sales up 11.6 percent, according to official data.
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