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Singles' Day (11.11)

Alibaba has reported “encouraging” sales during the ongoing 618 shopping festival. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Alibaba, Xiaohongshu boost sales in midyear shopping festival

Alibaba’s midyear shopping promotion has it going head-to-head with younger e-commerce competitors such as Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram.

Sales performance during the 618 shopping festival is closely watched by investors as an indicator of a company’s competitiveness

15 Jun 2024 - 8:00AM

Pinduoduo heats up online price war during China’s 618 shopping festival

1 Jun 2024 - 10:00AM

JD.com founder’s avatar debuts as host of live-streaming sessions in AI push

17 Apr 2024 - 7:01AMvideocam

Alibaba reorients business, rejigs overhaul after catalogue of mistakes

Alibaba scales back an ambitious business overhaul plan and bids farewell to a turbulent year, as its founders call on employees to embrace changes.

17 Apr 2024 - 5:27PM

Alibaba recalibrates after a year of changes. Illustration: Henry Wong

JD.com, Alibaba’s Taobao push ‘refund only’ policy to rival Pinduoduo’s strategy

The two e-commerce giants are taking a leaf out of the playbook of budget online retailer Pinduoduo, which has had that policy in place since 2021.

28 Dec 2023 - 10:30PM

China’s e-commerce recovery brings parcel deliveries to nearly 100 a person

Parcel deliveries reached a new high of 120 billion items this week, up 8.5 per cent from all of 2022, as e-commerce sees strong third-quarter recovery.

5 Dec 2023 - 3:00PMvideocam

Huawei’s Singles’ Day smartphone sales boost sentiment for strong fourth quarter

China’s smartphone market saw a 5 per cent bump in sales volume during the Singles’ Day shopping festival, driven by demand for handsets from local tech champion Huawei.

28 Nov 2023 - 12:50PM

A woman compares the iPhone 15 Pro and Huawei Technologies' Mate 60 Pro at an Apple Store in Shanghai on September 22, 2023. Photo: Reuters

JD.com removes veteran from retail CEO role days after Singles’ Day

JD.com CEO Sandy Xu Ran will take over leadership of JD Retail from Xin Lijun, the company announced on Wednesday.

16 Nov 2023 - 9:00PM

JD.com beats revenue estimates after discounts lure frugal shoppers

JD.com revenue rose 1.7 per cent to US$34.2 billion in the three months through September amid a price war with Alibaba and PDD.

15 Nov 2023 - 7:09PMvideocam

Huawei scrambles to boost production of Mate 60 5G smartphones to meet demand

The current production capacity for Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro 5G smartphone cannot meet demand, resulting in wait time for orders of up to three months.

14 Nov 2023 - 9:00PM

A Huawei Technologies smartphone advertisement at Chaoyang Joy City shopping centre in Beijing. The company’s popular Mate 60 Pro 5G handset continues to experience supply shortages. Photo: Shutterstock

Alibaba, JD.com post Singles’ Day sales growth but withhold sales tally

Two of China’s largest e-commerce platforms have reported growth in sales and order volume during the world’s largest shopping festival, but did not disclose exact sales numbers.

13 Nov 2023 - 7:02PM

An Alibaba Group Holding advertisement for Singles’ Day at a subway station in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg

Singles’ Day 2023 sees Chinese consumers hunting for low prices, local brands

China’s e-commerce giants are counting on bargain-basement prices in their Singles’ Day campaigns to woo consumers who are reluctant to spend in the current uncertain economy.

11 Nov 2023 - 12:52PMvideocam

China’s Singles’ Day in full swing

11 Nov 2023 - 8:00AM

This Singles’ Day, Southeast Asia embraces post-Covid ‘rational spending’

Consumers are more cautious after a rough few years thanks to the pandemic, then a cost of living crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

11 Nov 2023 - 3:12AMvideocam

Shoppers walk past a store on Orchard Road in Singapore. Like counterparts across Southeast Asia, Singapore’s High Street is facing a slowdown. Photo: Bloomberg

Deep Hong Kong discounts for Singles’ Day event as businesses aim to boost sales

But business academic Terence Chong warns that Singles’ Day sales will not boost profits of retailers if people opt to buy from mainland Chinese merchants online.

10 Nov 2023 - 8:26PM

Many of the promotions are available through online and offline sales channels. Photo: Elson LI

Pinduoduo sees sales jump during Singles’ Day promotion

Pinduoduo sees jump in year-on-year sales during Singles’ Day promotion, although consumers are more focused on essential items amid slow economy.

30 Oct 2023 - 8:07PM

Alibaba steps up Singles’ Day promotion with live streamers enticing shoppers

A group of Chinese live streamers, including top online influencer Austin Li Jiaqi, helped kick off Alibaba’s Singles’ Day campaign this year.

25 Oct 2023 - 9:22PMvideocam

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com kicks off Singles’ Day shopping season

JD.com said its user orders and overall transaction volume grew over four times last year’s figures within 10 minutes of its promotion’s start on Monday. Its campaign runs through November 13.

24 Oct 2023 - 9:09PM

The initial results of JD.com’s Singles’ Day promotion this year augurs well for the shopping festival, following the subdued environment in 2022 when Covid-19 control measures were still in place across China. Photo: Shutterstock

Apple’s iPhone 15 sees discounts on Chinese e-commerce sites ahead of Double 11

Apple’s new iPhone 15 handset is being discounted on Chinese e-commerce sites in the run up to Double 11 sales festival and amid stiff competition from Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro.

24 Oct 2023 - 9:01AMvideocam

Alibaba, JD.com roll out low-price strategies for Singles’ Day amid tight economy

China’s e-commerce giants are gearing up for the world’s largest online shopping season that kicks off next week, counting on bargain prices to woo penny-pinching consumers.

22 Oct 2023 - 4:56PM

JD.com brings 4-hour delivery to Hong Kong in battle with Alibaba

Cainiao and JD Logistics have both stated their ambitions to build robust global delivery networks, with Hong Kong acting as an important hub.

18 Oct 2023 - 8:33AMvideocam

JD.com’s Asia No1 logistics centre in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Alibaba prepares for Singles’ Day price war as sales slow in China

As China’s retail growth sputters, the country’s e-commerce operators are racing to beat rivals with better bargains in the annual online shopping extravaganza.

17 Oct 2023 - 9:21AMvideocam

Advertisements for Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping festival in Shanghai in 2021. Photo: Reuters

China’s e-commerce sector sees at least 89 platforms go under in 2022

A number of the platforms that closed shop last year were once backed or funded by Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com.

2 Feb 2023 - 7:34PMvideocam

Apple leads fourth-quarter smartphone rankings as 2022 global shipments fall

Apple overcame iPhone supply chain disruptions in China to reach its highest ever quarterly global smartphone market share at 25 per cent, as overall shipments last year declined 11 per cent.

18 Jan 2023 - 8:06PM

China’s chip sales fall 21 per cent in November amid weak global demand

That decline in China marked the biggest percentage drop among the world’s major semiconductor markets, as economic headwinds continued to hammer worldwide chip sales.

11 Jan 2023 - 6:30PM

China was the world’s largest semiconductor market in 2021, with total sales of US$192.5 billion. Photo: Shutterstock

China’s Covid pivot fails to brighten Double 12 shopping festival

An abrupt rollback of coronavirus control measures in China has done nothing to boost enthusiasm for the first major online shopping event after China eased its pandemic measures.

14 Dec 2022 - 9:00PMvideocam

Shoppers return to a mall as restrictions are eased and shops reopen in Beijing earlier this month. Photo: AP Photo

China’s e-commerce scene is a battlefield as hard up consumers look for deals

Pinduoduo’s jump in revenue contrasts with tepid growth for other players, reflecting changing behaviour of Chinese consumers as economy takes a turn for the worse.

1 Dec 2022 - 12:04PM

Founder Richard Liu urges JD.com to cut prices amid tough retail sector

Liu was particularly unhappy about the retail sector with JD.com failing to match e-commerce competitors on pricing, according to leaked speech.

25 Nov 2022 - 9:37AM

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Singles' Day (11.11)

Latest news and updates on China’s Singles’ Day, which is the world’s largest online shopping festival. Held on November 11 every year, the annual event is seen by many as an important barometer for economic health. In 2019, online shoppers in China spent a whopping 410 billion yuan (US$60.4 billion) in 24 hours – double what Amazon generates in an entire month.

last updated:

9 September, 2024