Chinese e-commerce giants JD.com Inc. (NYSE:JD) and Alibaba Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BABA) set new records on Singles Day shopping event. The companies racked up sales of $115 billion across their platforms.
Chinese e-commerce giants break Singles Day sales record
The 2020 Singles Day event was different, considering it started on November 1 and ran through November 12. Usually, the event takes on November 11 each year, but it was extended because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales on Singles Day event surpass Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales combined each year, making it the largest shopping event globally.
This year sales on Alibaba for brands such as Nike, Addidas, and Apple started on November 1-3, but the company didn’t release sales numbers for that period. But a statement for the company indicated that there was healthy consumption, which is a sign of economic recovery in China. Over the 11 days, the company said that the gross merchandise value of orders across its platform was $74.1 billion, almost doubling from last year. On the other hand, JD.com reported a transaction volume of $40.97 billion.
Chinese tech giants could face stricter anti-trust regulations
This year’s event came as the economy continues to rebound as China seems to have had the COVID-19 pandemic in control. However, the exceptional Singles Day record was overshadowed by a plunge in JD.com and Alibaba’s stock prices. This was a result of Chinese regulators releasing draft rules aimed at curbing anti-competitive behavior from the giants. Investors are concerned that the Chinese tech giants could face strict regulations that could impact their businesses.
Alibaba indicated that over 250,000 brands were taking part in the Singles Day event, with 31,000 of those from overseas. The company said that the US was the top country selling to China by gross merchandise value. Alvin Liu, Alibaba’s Tmall Export and Import business’s president, said that this year foreign brands were a big focus for the e-commerce retailers. Usually, Chinese shoppers who would travel abroad to purchase foreign products purchased the products in China because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
