Chinese shoppers push Alibaba to top Singles’ Day

Alibaba Group Holding broke its Singles’ Day sales record with room to spare, offering assurances about the strength of the Chinese consumer despite the nation’s economic slowdown.

Sales on its e-commerce platform reached 102 billion yuan ($20.3 billion) shortly before 8 p.m. in China, easily topping last year’s total of 91.2 billion yuan with about four hours left to run. Dwarfing both America’s Cyber Monday and Black Friday, the 24-hour online promotion is closely watched for clues on the health of the economy and its largest online retailer.

Billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba pioneered the annual shopping spree in 2009 and has since transformed it into a social phenomenon, replicated by rivals including JD.com Inc. and now involving thousands of marquee labels across the world.

The e-commerce giant turned up the star-wattage for 2016, enlisting Scarlett Johansson, David Beckham, Kobe Bryant and pop-rock band One Republic to headline a presale gala and drum up international attention. Pop star Katy Perry pulled out at the last minute because of a family emergency.

Executives had set the bar high, confidently predicting another re- cord-breaking endeavour at a time when the economy’s growing at its slowest pace in a quarter-century and a weakening yuan may curb enthusiasm for foreign wares.

China’s economy is increasingly dependent on its more than a billion consumers as global growth fizzles. Final consumption accounted for more than half of economic output last year. Shoppers have so far shrugged off a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy, with retail sales rising by 10.7 per cent in September, a record for the year. The growing middle class is now demanding better quality products, and innovative ways to shop.

“Many foreign brands, with and without local China presence, will use this shopping event to further raise their brand profile with Chinese consumers,” said Andria Cheng, an analyst at eMarketer.

Singles’ Day was invented by college students in the 1990s as a counter to Valentine’s Day, according to the Communist Party-owned People’s Daily. Written numerically, Nov. 11 is reminiscent of “bare branches,” a local expression for singles. It’s since morphed into a consumption phenomenon involving months of planning, millions of logistics and technology personnel, and a nationwide cascade of ads.