Alibaba, JD.com gear up for Singles’ Day sales gala with low-price strategies to woo tight-fisted consumers
- Alibaba’s Taobao & Tmall Group will start presales on the evening of October 24, with expectations of attracting about 1 billion consumers
- JD.com is betting on what the firm calls ‘genuine low prices’ to woo local consumers who are tightening their purse strings amid a slow economy
China’s e-commerce giants are gearing up for the world’s largest online shopping season that kicks off next week, counting on bargain-basement prices to attract consumers reluctant to spend amid China’s sputtering economy.
Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and Tmall Group will start presales for the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival – also known as Singles’ Day – on the evening of October 24, with expectations of attracting about 1 billion consumers this year, according to a company statement on Friday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Featuring over 80 million products at their lowest prices this year, Taobao and Tmall Group said it will focus on “serving Chinese consumers looking for value-for-money products by offering the best deals”.
The Singles' Day shopping festival, in its 15th year since it was created by Alibaba in 2009, reflects how the country’s e-commerce giants are doubling down on low-price strategies to entice consumers amid an uneven post-pandemic economic recovery and deflationary pressure.
The Beijing-based company is offering best-price guarantees for more than 800 million products for 30 days. If shoppers find more affordable prices elsewhere for items they bought on JD.com during this year’s sale, they will be compensated for the price difference.
“For this year’s Double 11, we will offer a large number of quality and affordable goods and many money-saving and hassle-free measures and services,” Xin Lijun, chief executive at JD Retail, said at an event in Beijing on Thursday, acknowledging that Chinese consumers have increasingly become more price sensitive.
Trudy Dai Shan, chief executive of Taobao and Tmall Group, expressed the company's commitment to China’s consumer market, adding that there was still significant room for growth.
