Yesterday was the world's biggest online shopping day. No, it wasn't Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It was what is celebrated in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as Singles Day, November 11 or 11.11. It's a day that is all about loving yourself, especially if there isn't a “significant other” to buy you diamond earrings or the latest smartphone. Alibaba Group did its best to enable every “single” person to buy something nice by creating a massive online shopping festival, which went global this year. The 24-hour online shopping promotion, tried to attract shoppers in some 200 countries and regions who were able to select from more than one million products being offered at steep discounts by participating PRC and international e-tailers. Market research firm IDC expected Singles Day to generate about $8.18 billion in sales for Alibaba, up 42 percent from last year's $5.7 billion. The final numbers may be even better. At the 13:31 hour mark in the sale, alizila.com advised that last year's total was surpassed. Alibaba Group shopping platforms Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com were the sites of the highest activity. Alipay expected to process 30,000 online payments per second during peak periods, double last year's peak volume. And Alibaba Group sites AliExpress and Tmall Global also participated. AliExpress is an English eCommerce site that connects shoppers from all over the world with Chinese merchants selling a wide array of products including apparel, electronics and sports gear. Tmall Global offers Chinese consumers the ability to buy directly from foreign brands that don't have established Chinese retail operations. At AliExpress the deals were hot with often 50 percent off prices and free shipping to Saudi Arabia. Compared to Amazon.com's full prices and serious pain when it comes to shipping to the Kingdom, AliExpress was a ton of fun. Consider too that many of the items at Amazon.com are imported from China and it's easy to understand the savings in general when purchasing from a marketplace close to the source. Yesterday, while the world was turning to AliExpress to buy from the PRC, Chinese consumers were boosting international trade relations through Tmall Global. That eCommerce site had a slate of special offers for residents of the PRC on imported goods from seven countries including the USA, UK and Germany. The goods were shipped via bonded warehouses in free-trade zones in three Chinese cities – Hangzhou, Ningbo and Guangzhou – which meant that Tmall Global shoppers enjoyed preferential tax rates and lower customs duties as well as speedier delivery times. The rising wealth of Chinese consumers has led to a boom in demand for foreign cosmetics, apparel and even fresh produce. While many Chinese consumers choose to buy imported products within the PRC, a growing number of shoppers are saving money by purchasing directly from overseas merchants.
