Singles Day set to shatter records

Singles Day spending tomorrow will undoubtedly shatter last year’s record spend of US$9.3 billion, predicts KPMG.

November 11 is known in China as Singles’ Day, an annual one day event which sees online retailers slash prices of products and China’s shoppers treat themselves to a wealth of discounted goods. Popularised by eCommerce giant Alibaba in 2009, Singles’ Day in China has now become the world’s biggest online retail sales day, eclipsing all other promotions days including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Last year’s sales fell just short of $10 billion, but Jessie Qian, partner in charge, consumer markets with KPMG China, says that barrier will surely be broken tomorrow

“We expect that China Singles’ Day spend this year will be bigger than ever, illustrating the buying power of the Chinese consumer and the increasing prominence of the date in the Chinese retail calendar.”

KPMG recently survey 10,000 online Chinese luxury consumers – China’s Connected Consumers – also revealed that the maximum amount Chinese consumers felt comfortable paying online for a single item was RMB 4200 – more than double the RMB 1900 found in 2014.

The study also found that Chinese luxury shoppers are increasingly open to buying luxury products online. For most categories, from jewellery to cosmetics, and wine to leather goods, respondents reported a willingness of 75-95 per cent to buy online.

“Not only did we see a higher amount spent on average for popular categories such as bags, women’s apparel and cosmetics, but we also noted a significant increase in spending on watches and jewellery,” said Qian.

“All these illustrate that online luxury shopping is set to grow as Chinese consumers are growing increasingly more comfortable with online purchasing.”

Qian concluded: “With the speed of change around new channels in China, companies must develop the right strategies to survive and thrive in an increasingly disruptive environment. Formulating an effective online to offline (O2O) strategy will be essential for retailers to remain competitive in the digital age with the increasing smartphone technologies and the need to harness social media platform.

“Meanwhile, using analytics to turn the transactional data into insights to improve products and user experience, as well as to unlock new opportunities, will be crucial for e-retailers to stand out in the increasingly competitive market.”