Balenciaga, Prada, IWC lead global luxury brands in bowing to online shopping as China’s Singles’ Day sets e-commerce record
- Many brands, including Balenciaga and Prada, launched Singles’ Day promotions for the first time this year
- JD.com says the transaction value of goods from more than 130 luxury brands surged by 100 per cent year on year in the first 30 minutes of sales
Global luxury retailers embraced the Singles’ Day online shopping bonanza this year like never before, pulling out all the stops to attract Chinese consumers amid a gloomy outlook for consumption elsewhere in the world.
About 200 luxury brands launched special promotions on Tmall to take advantage of the shopping festival, which is held on November 11 every year, doubling the number reported last year, according to Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the e-commerce platform as well as this newspaper.
Many brands were launching Singles’ Day promotions on the platform for the first time. These included Spanish fashion house Balenciaga, Italy’s Prada, as well as a handful of clothes, jewellery and watch brands owned by Swiss group Richemont, such as Cartier, Piaget, Montblanc and IWC Schaffhausen.
“The biggest change that has resulted from the pandemic for these luxury brands is that they have realised they must shift online,” said Veronica Wang, partner at retail industry consultancy OC&C Strategy Consultants.
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Cartier, for instance, hosted its first live streaming show on October 24 to promote more than 400 pieces of jewellery and watches, including a necklace valued at 190 million yuan (US$29 million). The show attracted 770,000 viewers in two hours, according to data provided by Alibaba.
