Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and avant-garde eroticism in magazine advertismentsJD kept quiet for the second year in a row on their overall sales volumes for the weeks-long shopping festival centered on Nov. 11, with Alibaba merely saying Taobao and Tmall recorded “positive year-on-year growth” in GMV, order number, and participating merchants, and rival JD pointing to “all-time high” transaction volume, order volume, and user engagement during the period. Data from industry watcher Syntun showed that from Oct.31 to the end of Nov.11, Tmall, JD, and Pinduoduo generated less than RMB 10.5 billion in sales combined, compared with last year. By contrast, content-based e-commerce sites led by Douyin and Kuaishou saw GMV increase by 18.6% to RMB 215.1 billion within the same period, compared with growth of 146.1% last year. Singles Day shopping festival was originally a 24-hour online commerce event that took place on Nov.11 every year. On Nov. 11 this year, total online transactions decreased by nearly 10% to RMB 277.65 billion. Similarly, the number of express parcels dropped 16.4% from last year. [Yicai, in Chinese]
