{"id":8996,"date":"2021-11-18T07:30:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T07:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8996"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:48:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:48:27","slug":"what-singles-day-tells-us-about-consumer-confidence-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-singles-day-tells-us-about-consumer-confidence-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"What 2021’s Singles’ Day figures tell us about consumer confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

One week after Singles\u2019 Day (11.11), the figures for the annual shopping festival show that consumer confidence in China remains strong despite recent outbreaks of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant, although public coverage was muted due to the ongoing \u2018Common Prosperity\u2019 campaign, writes Mark Tanner from The China Skinny<\/h2>\n

Singles\u2019 Day 2021 wrapped up last week, clocking a whopping RMB 540.3 billion (\u00a363 billion) of goods sold on Alibaba alone (the group that created the shopping festival in 2009). That made for year-on-year growth of 8.5%,\u00a0 much lower than last year\u2019s 26% growth compared to 2019, but still impressive given the odds stacked against it. It is also worth noting that this year\u2019s figures captured sales from 1-11 November, as what was once a 24-hour flash sale event has expanded into a multi-day shopping bonanza<\/a>, including pre-sales stretching all the way back to October.<\/p>\n

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Beijing\u2019s crackdown on big tech<\/a> companies as part of its common prosperity<\/a> drive, coupled with\u00a0an increased focus on sustainability, meant that the shopping festival was without its usual razzmatazz. Instead of Alibaba\u2019s usual star-studded gala with previous appearances from Taylor Swift, David Beckham and James Bond (Daniel Craig), the company held a very low-profile evening party without a live studio audience to celebrate the event.<\/p>\n

Similarly, new regulations for China\u2019s fintech industry \u2013 and the fact that just 13% of China\u2019s young consumers are not in debt with some feeling a little shy in light of the latest Delta outbreaks \u2013 will have impacted Alibaba’s deferred payment system Huabei, and JD\u2019s Baitiao. In previous years, at least half of sales on Singles\u2019 Day have sold using the credit systems.<\/p>\n