BEIJING, Nov 11 – Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd online transactions approach $13 billion by this early evening. Jack Ma said China’s economy will be strong for next 15 year while it just only took Jack Ma for the half of the time on Wednesday to sell the same amount of stuff he did a year ago with his online channels.
Transactions through Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. during the annual Singles’ Day shopping event passed 57.1 billion yuan ($9 billion) before midday, eclipsing last year’s record with 12 hours still to go. By 9:26 p.m. Beijing time, they totaled 81.3 billion yuan. The top-selling items included baby-related and nutritional products, Nike sneakers and Levi’s jeans, the company said.
Ma raised the stakes with this year’s event by moving it to Beijing, bringing in more foreign brands and Hollywood celebrities Daniel Craig and Kevin Spacey to add glamour to the shopathon. Tapping into rising disposable incomes has paid off for China’s biggest e-commerce emporium as it captures more of China’s surging smartphone use with restaurant deliveries and video streaming.
Chief China economist at BNP Paribas SA in Beijing Chen Xingdong said Chinese consumers have a lot of money in their hands. In the meantime, he also said that the online retailers also need to customize their products to serve these increasingly savvy urban consumers.
