Singles Day has drawn a lukewarm response from Chinese shoppers this year, the latest indication that consumers and retailers in the world’s biggest market remain spooked by Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy and his crackdown on excess. Jack Ma’s Alibaba group spent years building November 11 into the largest retail event on the planet, hiring the services of celebrities including American hip hop producer Pharrell Williams and Australian actress Nicole Kidman to stoke the hype.
However, this year Alibaba did not disclose full sales results for the first time in the shopping festival’s history but said on Saturday that the result was “in line” with the performance of 2021, implying an end to years of rapid growth.
Jacob Cooke, chief executive of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, who is based in Beijing, said the result showed that Alibaba had “clearly shifted” from celebrating excessive consumption.