Alibaba, which launched presales on Oct 15, deployed AI widely across its Taobao and Tmall platforms – integrating large language models into core search and recommendation engines.
Vice president Liu Bo, also president at Tmall, said results were “better than expected”, with 35 sellers surpassing sales of 100 million yuan (US$14 million) within the first hour of presales.
Sales of beauty products and consumer electronics were also strong among shoppers, with AI-related products seeing a nearly 200 per cent year-on-year increase in sales via JD’s online marketplaces, according to China Daily.
New launches such as Apple’s iPhone 17 series and Xiaomi’s 17 lineup helped drive demand, alongside hits like Apple’s AirPods 4, Watch S11, Xiaomi’s 17 Pro Max and Nintendo’s Switch console, each topping 10 million yuan in first-hour sales.
Beauty products also remained popular among shoppers, with eight brands each surpassing 100 million yuan in sales within the first 10 minutes, according to data released by Tmall.
Chinese cosmetics brand Proya was the first to break the 100 million sales mark on Oct 20, Tmall said, alongside popular beauty giants like Estee Lauder, SK-II, Lancome and Loreal.
CHANGING CONSUMER HABITS
Robust sales during the early Singles’ Day shopping period comes after weaker average spending during this year’s Golden Week holiday, which fell to a three-year low despite an increase in inbound travel.
Average spending per trip during this year’s Golden Week break reached 911.04 yuan, down 0.55 per cent from the same period last year, according to Reuters calculations based on government data published this week.
It marked the lowest since 2022, when spending fell to 680.6 yuan as a result of the pandemic lockdowns.
The success of an earlier Singles’ Day this year continues to reflect spending habits of value conscious Chinese shoppers, with rational consumption remaining the overarching trend, experts say.
Source: CNA
