Singles Day in China - Ecommerce Boom
Singles sales on Monday broke records of e -commerce and pushed China back in the spotlight .
When it comes to e -commerce , to set a date to focus on promotions is very fashionable . It was first Cyber- Monday , where traders have discovered that consumers who return to work from a weekend of Thanksgiving shopping held to actually lead to spend online . This figure rose to a larger purchase dates on the calendar. This year, the Adobe Digital Index expects Cyber Monday sales to reach U.S. $ 2.27 billion , compared to U.S. $ 1.5 billion last year.
1.5 billions sales in China!
Given the global reach of American giants of electronic commerce, it is not surprising that Cyber Monday has become a global event. Despite not celebrate Thanksgiving, online bargains and near Christmas Cyber Monday urged European and Latin American newspapers also . Some countries have tried to go it alone. " Mega Monday " in the UK is a week later than Cyber Monday , while Australia has launched days " Click- Frenzy" with varying success . But the last two years have seen China pork limelight thanks to the spectacular growth of "Singles -Day " on November 11 . humble beginningsSingle day began among students in Nanjing looking for a date to celebrate celibacy and the regulation on those represented by four 11/11. In fact, it is difficult to see the initial appeal to buyers. Large commercial periods fall around China 's National Day on October 1st and the Chinese New Year in January and February . Accordingly represents a lull in November , unlike the pre-Christmas frenzy melee begins in Europe and the United States .
However, this also explains the eagerness with which retailers have sought to appropriate the date as their own. Alibaba , the largest online retailer of China began to market the day of Singles in 2009. Sales were initially modest , less than 10m dollars, but have grown rapidly . Last year , transactions of U.S. $ 3 billion was the largest single day of online shopping day of the year. This year, he has cemented this position with estimated Rmb35bn (U.S. $ 5.75bn ) sales.
A difficult market
E -commerce in China is growing rapidly. Earlier this year McKinsey reported that online sales grew at an annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of 120% in a decade. According to the Internet Network Information Center in China (CNNIC ) online sales last year rose 66 % to RmB1.3trn ( almost 200 billion U.S. $) . Growth slowed in 2013, but reached 35 % in the first nine months of the year, compared to the overall sales growth of less than 9% . Online sales now accounts for 6-7 % of retail sales in China , highlighting the speed of convergence with Western markets. Even more striking is the role that smartphones and social media play . According to the CNNIC about 40% of online shoppers with a mobile navigation device while s -commerce is also receiving more attention in China than elsewhere.
Chinese e -commerce market is a tempting but difficult for foreign players to enter . Alibaba has a B2C market share of nearly 40 %. He is joined by 360buy and host of smaller operators who participate heavily on prices. eBay has learned this painful lesson , entering the market in 2004 and released two years later. Amazon showed stamina but just cut a 2% share . Majority stake in Yihaodian Walmart gave the company a relatively small building footprint , while eBay 's second attempt to enter the market is quiet , with the acquisition of Xiu.com as a springboard .
Despite ominous start foreign retailers are unlikely to give up easily on a market that shows little sign of slowing, despite greater caution in the retail market at large. Based on the levels of growth in the first nine months of 35% of Chinese online sales will reach $ 280 billion this year , passing the United States as the largest market for e -commerce in the world in the process . Beyond that the sky is the limit with McKinsey forecast that Chinese online sales could reach $ 650 billion by 2020
