China launches crackdown on ‘Singles Day’ spending frenzy

CHINA’S equivalent of Black Friday, called Singles Day, has come under attack by Beijing-controlled media outlets in a blow to its biggest technology companies.

The Securities Daily newspaper wrote that the shopping festival’s “worship of turnover” was “inextricably linked to chaos” in an assault on consumption.

The criticism came as Singles Day, a major sales boost for Chinese shopping sites such as Alibaba and Jd.com, posted lower growth than previous years.

Alibaba said consumer spending across the 11-day event rose by a lower than expected 8.5pc, the slowest rate in its 13 years. “The ‘worship of turnover’ is not only unsustainable in terms of digital growth but is also inextricably linked to chaos,” Securities Daily wrote.

It added that a blitz of marketing and spam text messages had encouraged “low-level” consumption rather than “breakthrough innovations”, and called on companies to move away from a “traffic and sales war”.

“I hope that one day, China’s internet giants will no longer focus on the business of mom-and-pop shops, but will be able to walk towards space in their own private rocket,” the article stated.

Chinese state media often used by the Communist Party as a way of delivering the government’s message.

After years of supporting its tech giants against US competition, Beijing has embarked on a widespread crackdown against China’s biggest internet firms in recent months due to concerns about their growing power and impact on what the country’s leaders regard as core Chinese values.

Alibaba has lost almost half of value in little more than a year since government officials forced its payment spinoff Ant Group to suspend plans for a stock market listing. It has been hit by a record 18.2bn yuan (£2.1bn) fine for abusing its market power, and its founder Jack Ma has rarely been seen in public in the past year.

Alibaba said $84.5bn had been spent during the 11 days, while Jd.com said sales had grown by 28pc to $54.6bn, also slower than the previous year.

Other major companies such as Didi and Tencent have also been affected by the crackdown, which has ranged from cyber security issues to concerns about teenagers obsessed with video games.