Alibaba’s Singles’ Day preparation includes US$5.7 billion in aid to merchants

Taobao and Tmall plan to give out 30 billion yuan in consumer vouchers and use 10 billion yuan worth of resources to boost traffic amid e-commerce competition

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An advertisement for the Singles’ Day shopping event from Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform at a subway station in Shanghai on November 4, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg

Ann Caoin Shanghai

Published: 7:00am, 26 Sep 2024

Alibaba Group Holding has earmarked at least 40 billion yuan (US$5.7 billion) worth of resources to help merchants on Taobao and Tmall during the Singles’ Day shopping festival, as the e-commerce giant fights to protect its core business in an increasingly competitive market.

The largest shopping platforms owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post, plan to give out 30 billion yuan in consumer vouchers and dedicate resources worth as much as 10 billion yuan to boosting traffic, according to the latest announcement from Taobao and Tmall Group, the tech giant’s domestic e-commerce unit.

The platforms also introduced new measures meant to reduce operational costs for merchants, which includes targeting the costs of goods returned by consumers and waiving various commission fees, according to the group.

This marks one of the earliest steps taken by the Hangzhou-based tech conglomerate – which is now in a battle to stabilise its market share in the fiercely competitive domestic e-commerce market – to boost business during China’s largest online shopping festival.

03:19

Singles’ Day: world’s biggest online shopping event under way amid slowdown in Chinese economy

The Singles’ Day shopping festival, initiated by Alibaba in 2009, is the world’s largest online retail extravaganza. The annual bargain-hunting ritual, originally a 24-hour event named for its date November 11, or 11/11, has in recent years stretched into weeks, with sales kicking off in late October. Newer e-commerce players have more recently joined in, including ByteDance’s Douyin and Pinduoduo, operated by Temu owner PDD Holdings.