Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com emblem

    UNSURPRISINGLY, a new record was set when Internet users from China and overseas spent over 91 billion yuan (US$14.3 billion) on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in the world’s biggest online shopping spree — Singles’ Day, Nov. 11, a 60 percent increase from last year’s figure: US$9.3 billion.

    Since its inception in 2009, the Alibaba-initiated and dominated Singles’ Day shopping event has been growing at an explosive speed. Now the event has evolved from a domestic shopping festival into a global party, as manifested by the new name of the event: 2015 Tmall 11/11 Global Shopping Festival.

    Despite the astronomical sales figures that eclipse any other country’s online sales records, Alibaba and other Chinese e-commerce giants are not content with selling only Chinese products overseas or confining themselves to being a Chinese company. As Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma repeatedly said, the company’s international strategy is to serve as the “gateway to China” for international brands.

    Until last year, however, overseas products accounted for only a small share of Singles’ Day sales. Alibaba aims to raise this share to transform Singles’ Day from an exclusively Chinese phenomenon into an international shopping event. Ma said in an interview, “11/11 will be a global holiday of cultural exchange and a happy gathering-together. The event will be held in New York, Paris or London in the near future.”

    Alibaba has been investing more resources into wooing more foreign brands. On June 24, 2015, Alibaba announced an expansion of its cross-border e-commerce initiatives, including the launch of 11 official country pavilions on its Tmall Global platform and cooperative partnerships between Juhuasuan, Alibaba’s group-buying platform, and 26 foreign embassies in China.

    Eleven countries, including the U.S., Australia, France and Britain, have launched or will launch country pavilions on Tmall Global, an extension of Tmall.com, China’s largest third-party B2C platform for brands and retailers. These country pavilions are curated online and are aimed at providing Chinese consumers with a one-stop shop for popular products from other countries, including travel and cultural information. Brands already on Tmall.com and Tmall Global can opt to join their originating country’s pavilion.

    By cooperating with various governments and official trade agencies, Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms are helping overseas small businesses sell high-quality products directly to China by lowering trade barriers. High-quality import products are also what China’s rising middle-class consumers are looking for.

    Singles’ Day has brought fundamental changes to people’s daily lives. It was unimaginable before that within a mere 32 hours live lobsters would be caught in Canada and delivered to a consumer in Shanghai!

    Nor had it ever occurred to Turkish biscuit maker Karsa that he would be able to sell 200,000 biscuits in a single day on last year’s Singles’ Day, posting about 1.8 million yuan in sales. “We are hoping to see at least a 50 percent jump in sales this year,” Karsa said.

    With Singles’ Day’s rising influence, global consumers are scrambling for cheap and quality Chinese products conveniently ordered online and delivered home quickly. On this year’s Singles’ Day, consumers from 229 countries and regions placed orders online.

    More and more foreigners are becoming a member of the “hand-chopping gang,” a joking term to refer to those who indulge in online shopping and want to “chop” their hands off when they feel regret for buying too many unwanted items.

    It’s estimated that Russian consumers placed 7 million orders on this year’s Singles’ Day, 20 times last year’s data. With a sluggish economy in their country, Russian consumers just can’t resist the temptation of inexpensive and quality Chinese products such as smartphones, garments and appliances.

    To add more international flavor to the event, Alibaba put on a spectacular gala at the National Aquatic Center, also known as the “Water Cube” in Beijing. A strong lineup of Chinese and foreign stars showed up, including popular Chinese singing group TFBOYS, Korean singer RAIN, and American singer Adam Lambert.

    Hopefully, Alibaba will herald a new era of more Chinese companies taking on the global stage and bringing vigor to the sagging world economy.

    (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)