British brands cash in on China’s £18bn day of shopping
BRITISH companies were last night raking in millions from Singles’ Day – China’s £18bn online shopping extravaganza.
The event, which started out as an opportunity for Chinese singletons to buy themselves a gift, has spiralled into the world’s biggest shopping day of the year.
It is held today, November 11 – or 11.11 – because the ‘1’ is meant to represent an individual not in a romantic relationship.
Last night, as the bonanza started, online retailer Alibaba reported takings of £3.8bn in less than 15 minutes. The sales were kicked off by the actress Nicole Kidman and Alibaba founder Jack Ma (pictured) in a Super Bowl style gala. The 53-year-old is the 23rd richest person in the world and worth around £30bn.
More than 130 UK brands are taking part including Burberry, Marks & Spencer, New Look and LK Bennett. Topshop and Clarks were among the big winners last year when shoppers spent £13.5bn – up from £11bn in 2015.
Analysts at Citigroup believe the 24-hour event, which has been dominated by Alibabaowned platform Tmall since it began in 2009, will rake in £18bn this year. That is more than is spent on Europe’s biggest shopping days – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – combined.
Mei Chen, head of international business development at Alibaba, said: ‘There is huge demand from Chinese consumers for foreign goods, especially UK brands, which are associated with high quality, heritage and are at the forefront of fashion.’
New Look international managing director Sven Gaede said that as well as generating ‘great’ sales for the business, Singles’ Day has ‘broader benefits in building brand awareness and attracting customers’. A report by Royal Mail found that 55pc of online shoppers in China buy goods from the UK – spending an average of £104 a month on items from British retailers.
Royal Mail sells a range of British brands on the Tmall website including products from Waitrose and Marvel milk products by Premier Foods. It’s also banking on Zatchels, an accessories firm that sells British-made satchels, to be extremely popular.
Nick Landon, managing director of Royal Mail Parcels, said: ‘UK brands are really clicking with China’s shoppers.’
Worldpay, the global payments company, said it expects British companies to cash in as the weak pound attracts ‘an influx of Brexit bargain hunters’.
However, there is some doubt about the scale of the Singles’ Day sales. The American watchdog SEC is investigating the accounting methods Alibaba uses for its Singles’ Day figures. The nature of the probe isn’t clear, but critics have claimed that merchants selling on Singles’ Day have inflated their sales figures.