On October 13, Alibaba Group launched an 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in its Hangzhou headquarters, and officially kicked off a long sales season leading to Singles’ Day. Group Chairman Jack Ma and President Michael Evans led the event. The global shopping festival was conceived by Alibaba in 2009, and last year, Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales reached $9.3 billion, five times the value of Cyber Monday sales in the US. This year, Alibaba is estimating that its Singles’ Day GMV will reach $12.6 billion, up 35.5% from last year.

Key Estimates for 2015 11.11 Singles’ Day

• Total GMV is projected to be $12.6 billion in 2015, up 35.5% from $9.3 billion in 2014.
• More than 40,00 merchants will participate in 2015 versus in 27,000 in 2014.
• More than 5,000 international brands from 25 countries will be included, up from 140 in 2014.
• More than 6 million products will be promoted versus 1 million in 2014.

Source: Finance.Sina.com/iResearch/ECInsight

Weak Macro Backdrop Is Not Likely to Cast a Pall over Singles’ Day

Despite China’s economic slowdown and stock market turmoil, its e-commerce sector is still going strong. Alibaba’s Singles’ Day campaign is poised to benefit from this steady growth. At the launch event, Ma showed much confidence in China’s consumer market, citing the country’s growing middle class population as the long-term driver. “China’s consumption power will rise quickly and that will not only drive China’s economy but also the world’s economy,” he said. According iResearch, the number of online shoppers in China is expected to reach 410 million, growing at a rate of 13.4%, while online spending per capita is growing at 26.1%. Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall account for over 80% of China’s e-commerce market share. The recent Alibaba-backed merger of group-buying companies Meituan and Dianping and Alibaba’s acquisition of video platform Youku Tudou strengthen the company’s leading position in China’s Internet commerce spaces.

Singles’ Day Is Becoming More International

More than 5,000 international brands will participate in 2015 Singles’ Day promotions. At the launch event, Evans disclosed that the company is seeing “significant demand” for international brands across top-selling categories for Singles’ Day. Judging from the big presence of international fresh produce associations, Alibaba is likely to heavily promote imported fresh food for Singles’ Day. Meanwhile, the company has made some significant expansions globally, particularly on the e-commerce front. In April 2015, AliExpress opened an office in Russia. And just two months ahead of Singles’ Day, Alibaba announced its exclusive agreement to bring leading US department store Macy’s to China.