Tmall Hits Record Singles’ Day Sales Volume

Tmall, the B2C shopping website run by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, hit a sales volume of 213.5 billion yuan (US$30.9B) on November 11, the Double 11 shopping day initiated by the group in 2009.

Analysts have attributed the 27 percent year-on-year growth to a growing number of emerging online brands and Alibaba's expansion of offline retail businesses.

However, analysts noted that the growth in Alibaba's sales volume on the big shopping day has actually been declining, from 1,772 percent in 2010 to 27 percent this year. Customers' increasingly mature views of consumption, a growing number of e-commerce competitors, and rising advertising costs on the big day are believed to be responsible.

The drop has caused concern for Alibaba as well. Media reports said the company reduced its annual sales target by 4-6 percent and prepared to cut commissions to attract more sellers. At its shopping day press conference, Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong said the company “has to keep making changes” to achieve its future objectives.