Alibaba racked up a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of 540.3 billion yuan ($114 billion) a year ago during its Singles Day event. The 8.5% sales growth was the slowest on record, and well below the strong double-digit growth seen in 2020, according to Reuters.
Australian products have always been popular in China due to their clean and green image. Australia is consistently among the top 10 countries selling to China on cross-border e-commerce platform Tmall Global. Brands such as Aesop, Bellamy’s, Devondale and Maxigenes were all the top 10 selling Australian brands on Singles Day last year.
While the event is normally a showcase for over-the-top consumerism, Pier Smulders, Alibaba’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, said this year there were more initiatives aimed at building community. greener from 11/11.
“In accordance with the recently released guidelines for low-carbon products by Alibaba Group, during 11/11 this year, Tmall stepped up efforts to label low-carbon products, covering broad shopping categories. such as clothing, food and cosmetics to promote sustainable consumption,” he said.
Smulders said Alibaba is focusing on immersive technology and the metaverse this year, as well as live streaming. More than 70 brands will bring nearly 700 products to the market powered by XR (extended reality), which appears as a bustling shopping street where user avatars can stroll, and consumers can also browse virtual stores.
Australian herbal products group Koala Eco launched in China in April, making this year its first 11/11.
“We approached it with a mixture of excitement and discovery. We used a combination of Tmall, Ministore on-site marketing, live streaming and a high pace of social media activity to achieve what we expect to be very impressive sales results,” said co-founder Jessica Bragdon.
More than 2,700 Australian brands are listed on Alibaba’s Chinese retail marketplaces.
Highest traffic
Singles’ Day, which operated only 24 hours a day, expanded and launched “payment counters” from October 31, where shoppers make deposits to secure goods later at a discounted price.
Blackmores Group CEO Alastair Symington said FRG weekend that as the largest retail market in the world, China was key.
“Major online shopping events such as the annual 11/11 Shopping Festival are important growth drivers for Australian businesses in China, with a variety of e-commerce platforms providing access to a wide range of customers in the region,” he said.
“In fact, it delivers the highest traffic of the entire year, which has a significant impact on our flagship stores and brand exposure in the region.”
At this year’s event, Blackmores launched PAW (Pure Animal Wellbeing supplements for pets), seeking to connect with over 150 million Chinese pet owners, and introduced the Blackmores Vision Care product. + Energy in the Chinese market.
The a2 milk company declined to comment as CEO David Bortolussi plans to provide an update at next week’s AGM. However, on Singles’ Day last year, it sold 1.32 million boxes of English label formulas – a moderate increase on the previous year – and gained 71,000 new users on its Tmall Flagship Store and JD.com.
