Editor's note: Liu Chunsheng is an associate professor at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics, and deputy dean of Blue Source Capital Research Institute. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
In 2018, the Double Eleven Shopping Festival (Singles' Day) entered its tenth year. During this decade, Alibaba. Chinese e-commerce giant, and other e-commerce platforms, together with consumers, have co-created a mega shopping event whose heat has swept the world. It is predicted that the sale number for Alibaba will exceed 200 billion yuan (28.75 billion dollars) on 2018's Singles' Day, creating a historical record.
The sale volume of Alibaba for the first Singles' Day in 2009 was 52 million yuan (7.64 million dollars); and by 2017, this number has reached 168.2 billion yuan (24.73 billion dollars). The mega shopping event has also swept through the different fields of technology, manufacturing, retail, finance, logistics, etc., and has also helped the building of "digital cities" through big data and logistics, cultivated new consumption lifestyles.
A screen shows the value of goods being transacted at Alibaba Group's 11.11 Singles' Day global shopping festival in Shanghai, China, November 12, 2017. /VCG Photo
For example, the shopping festival covers not only a large number of goods but also a large number of service products. Food, movies, games, video, travel, medical care, education, and even car repairs are not missing this feast of consumption for all.
Bringing in and Going out
Today, the Singles' Day is no longer limited to Alibaba, nor is it limited to China, but is driven by technology and big data to become a global shopping carnival. Alibaba's 2017 Singles' Day sale includes more than 40 percent global brands products, and the transaction covered 225 countries and regions around the world.
The British "Dyson," famous for its engineering innovation, and the German high-end milk powder "Aptamil," have become two of the top five of Tmall, Alibaba's online shopping platform, hot-selling brands for the first time in 2017. Macy's, the creator of the US "Black Friday" shopping festival, also initiated the Super Brand Day in Tmall last year.
A customer exits after shopping at a Macy's store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, May 11, 2017. /VCG Photo
Besides, more than 100 Chinese brands have sailed to the international market thanks to the shopping festival. It meets the needs of nearly 100 million overseas Chinese and global consumers. Buyers from the United States, Australia and Singapore all made great contributions to the festival.
On-line and Off-line
In addition to the online shops, more and more retail stores have also taken part in the festival which is a reflection of an online and offline integration.
In 2018, JD, another Chinese e-commerce giant, will work with 600,000 retail stores and consumers will get the same discounts in both online and offline shopping. Full integration of online and offline resources, more complete retail infrastructure and more advanced retail technology will provide consumers with a whole fresh shopping experience.
Rural e-commerce and targeted poverty alleviation
More and more rural areas have joined the Singles' Day and achieved great progress in sales of agricultural products.
On November 11, 2017, Alibaba started selling 58 kinds of agricultural products online, including products from 20 poverty-stricken counties. Till the end of the day, the total sales have reached 450 million yuan (66.17 million dollars). Over 100,000 orders generated from Alibaba's targeted poverty alleviation project Aksu Apple (a city of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region).
A girl picks up ripe apples at Aksu, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. /VCG Photo
The past ten years of Singles' Day have witnessed the rising purchasing power of China. The shopping craze has generated fierce competitions and has even been controversial. But it could be said that the "craziness" has forced the infrastructure building of China's e-commerce market.
It took some serious work for Alibaba and the logistics companies to handle 256,000 transactions per second, and more than 775 million parcels that were sent last year. Payment technology, big data security, and logistics will have to keep up to undertake such a huge volume.
If anything, with the more foreign brands joining the shopping festival, the event itself might force the advancement of the international e-commerce market, overseas payment, and the coordination between different countries on logistics and simplifying customs procedure.
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