Alibaba’s chairman, MA Yun, the pioneer of China’s e-commerce, expressed his satisfaction with the sales of this year. He hoped that the development of e-commerce could play an important role in contributing to the China’s commerce growth.
Rise of Singles’ Day
This kind of new tradition of Singles’ Day shopping spree was initiated by Alibaba in 2009. At the very beginning, it was only meant to be a simple sales promotion on this amusing day. Unexpectedly, it turned to be a hit, and a lot of revenue was marked, which inspired Alibaba to make Singles’ Day a regular one for its annual big promotion.
Globalization of
the company
To
draw up international attention, Alibaba invited the celebrities like Kobe
Bryant, David Beckham and his wife Victoria on stage during the Singles’ Day
evening gala, which was held for the first time in the southern city of
Shenzhen, a window to the oversea market.
Alibaba’s
main targets in the future will be those who are emerging into the middle
class, just like Chinese consumers today, in India, Russia, Brazil etc. as well
as European and American consumers.
Concern for packaging
Through Singles’ Day’s influence at home and abroad, it’s not difficult to observe the rapid development of e-commerce. Relying on this trend, there comes the spring of the logistics industry. According to China’s State Post Bureau, the annual parcels to be delivered in 2016 will probably rise to 30 billion. This number means a lot of wrapping materials like plastic bags and adhesive tapes will be used by the delivery companies. And usually they are not biodegradable, which is a heavy burden on the environment. In addition, owing to the principal that sellers should be accountable if goods are damaged during the delivery, large amounts of extra wrapping materials are added by the sellers to protect products, which further aggravates the packaging waste.
Through Singles’ Day’s influence at home and abroad, it’s not difficult to observe the rapid development of e-commerce. Relying on this trend, there comes the spring of the logistics industry. According to China’s State Post Bureau, the annual parcels to be delivered in 2016 will probably rise to 30 billion. This number means a lot of wrapping materials like plastic bags and adhesive tapes will be used by the delivery companies. And usually they are not biodegradable, which is a heavy burden on the environment. In addition, owing to the principal that sellers should be accountable if goods are damaged during the delivery, large amounts of extra wrapping materials are added by the sellers to protect products, which further aggravates the packaging waste.
To cope with this problem, “green packaging” concept is introduced with the aim to encourage the use of environmentally-friendly wrapping materials, and some experts indicate that a tax on the packaging may be helpful in reducing the waste.
To sum up, given that such a great sales volume has been reached within just one day, we can predict a huge potential development of e-commerce industry on an international scale in the future. Therefore, it is of great importance and it is high time that a joint effort be made to carry on this promising business in a more environmentally-friendly way.
BEI H.
This is such an interesting article. I had no idea that there was a holiday for single people! I really want to shop next November 11th. I think you bring up some good points about this having an effect on the environment. Hopefully, companies will take steps to be more eco-friendly. Thanks for your article!!
ReplyDeleteHi Bowman,
DeleteThanks for your comment! I'm glad that you are interested in this online shopping festival. Maybe next year you can try some purchases on Singles' Day!
Its the women power,those women who like shopping online pushed chinese economy ! lol
ReplyDeleteHi Guan,
DeleteThanks for you short comment which however exactly points out the key reason of the e-commerce's success. It is indeed the women's purchasing power that moves the e-commerce industry rapidly advance.
Bei H.
We strives to develop E-commerce, at the same time, we have to resolve the problem of logistic which is very important part in the development of E-commerce. We can not deny that Chineses' purchasing power became more and more stronger, which push China's even the whole world's economy.
ReplyDeleteHi Wenjin,
DeleteThanks for your comment! I do agree with you. The logistic problem is of increasing importance to the development of the e-commerce industry and should be resolved urgently. Only in a more environmentally-friendly way can e-commerce contribute to the world's economy.
Bei H.
I like the way you analyse this phenomenon from different aspects. The environmental issue really needs to be dealt with.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Cyber Monday in the UK and Black Friday in the US. Is there any difference between these events and Singles' Day in China in your opinion? Thanks for answering :)
Yuan. S
Hi Yuan,
DeleteThanks for your comment! As far as I'm concerned, Cyber Monday is kind of similar with China's Singles' Day, which is also about online shopping promotion while Black Friday, regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S, involves rather traditional retailers.
Bei H.
Hello Bei!
ReplyDeleteI did not know that a phenomenon as "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" exists in China until today.
Why do you think it was such a success? And, do you think that a same concept can work in France?
Angélique.G
Hi Angelique,
DeleteThanks for your comment! The reasons behind the success of Singles' Day according to me are mainly about attractive prices and the change of Chinese people's consuming habits. In fact this year in France there were also sales promotions proposed on Singles' Day to appeal to Chines people, so i think it could be a promising concept in the European market in the near future.
Hello dear Bei ! After reading your article, I have searched online the original of Single Day, it is which originated from China ! I thought it is a international festival ! Because at the 11.11 just passed this year, I saw many e-commercial in France also has many sale promotion. Do you think this Chinese shopping festival will influence more and more countries in the world?
ReplyDeleteHi Xuedan,
DeleteI'm glad that you are interested in Singles' Day story. Indeed, it was started from China and gradually gained an international reputation with its rapid development. Yes, I do believe that China's Singles' Day shopping festival will become a worldwide one and that more and more countries will participate in it.
I love this article because Huang analysis the single day in different aspects. The huge amount of revenu means that there is a big potential for Chinese people to make consumptions. It is interesting to me nowadays because Chinese people never shows so much enthusiasm to buy things, partly because E-commerce, partly because people are more libre in finance, so I think it is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! I do agree with you on the point that Chinese people are becoming more and more free in the financial aspect, which encourages them to buy things as they like. In fact this social trend is also a favorable condition for the rise of the e-commerce industry.
DeleteHi Bei ! I didn't know that online shopping was so successful in China !
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, I don't shopping online. I always worry that the product doesn't correspond to the one on the website or results in a poor quality product.
Why online shopping is so successful in China, according to you ?
What solutions do you propose to reduce the environmental footprint of packaging products ?
Margaux. D
Hi Margaux!
DeleteThanks for your comment. In fact I have the same worry with you so I do rarely shop online. But in China, more and more people especially young generation tend to buy things online because it's convenient and the price is much lower. As for the environment concern, i think it's necessary to introduce some régulations or policies to control the overuse of packaging materials and to promote the green packaging.
Bei H.