Asian shoppers unwrap Singles’ Day spoils, leaving US consumers to bear brunt of supply chain woes

Americans have to wait months for goods from China, but a Singles’ Day mega-shopper in Singapore who bought 191 items has received most of their packages already

Being closer to manufacturing hubs of China and Vietnam, and round-the-clock ports in the region have helped, even as the sector faces labour shortages and diesel price hikes

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Workers sort packages at a logistics firm in Hunan province, China. Photo: AFP

Kok Xinghuiin Singapore,Vijitra Duangdeein BangkokandResty Woro Yuniarin Jakarta

Published: 12:30pm, 20 Nov 2021Updated: 10:50am, 22 Nov 2021

November 11 has increasingly been a big day in Asia. Consumers, hit by a marketing blitz weeks before Singles’ Day, plan their purchases and put items into virtual shopping carts early so they can pay for them the instant the clock strikes midnight.

In Thailand this year, a record US$30.5 million was spent in the first two days on e-commerce site Lazada, with most shoppers buying fast fashion from China, while the same site raked in sales of S$11 million (US$8.1 million) in just nine minutes in Singapore, including one shopper who bought 191 items.

It would seem retailers in Asia should struggle to fulfil these overwhelming orders, given tales of pandemic supply chain woes in the United States and Europe. But unlike shoppers in the West, those in Asia have within the week already received or would very soon receive most of their items.

In fact, Lazada said it processed one-fifth of the parcels “at least 24 hours faster than last year”. The customer who bought 191 items has received 98 per cent of them, with just three items still on their way as of Wednesday.

In comparison, the supply chain in the US has snagged throughout the line, from delays in manufacturing hubs and exports, to congested ports within the US and disruptions to land logistics, where there aren’t enough truckers to unload and ship goods.

A New York Times report on Catch Co, a Chicago fishing company that produces a calendar counting down to Christmas, said the company would be snared by supply-chain delays that meant the calendar would take 130 days to arrive from a Chinese factory, compared with the typical 60 days. Catch Co estimated the calendar would only get to Walmart stores sometime this week at the earliest, even though they started making the calendars as early as April.

Rahul Kapoor, vice-president of maritime and trade at IHS Global Insight, said he wouldn’t claim that Asia was entirely OK, “but we’re slightly better off”.