Tomorrow's Single's Day bound to push online fruit sales in China

11.11, or Single's Day, the biggest single e-commerce shopping day in the world, is less than a day away. Chinese shops and consumers are warming up. Endless advertisements through social media are bombarding smartphones and commercial events are being organized all over the country.

Alibaba hit $17.8 billion in sales on 11.11 2016, and 2017 is expected to blow through that number. This single day figure is higher than the annual e-commerce sales of the whole of Brazil. Alibaba says 140,000 brands, some 60,000 of them international labels, will offer up over 15 million product listings this year. Prediction: Jack Ma’s Tmall will come close to hitting $1 billion an hour in sales, making Alibaba the biggest retail machine in the world.

For fresh produce retailers and fruit growers, Single's Day provides excellent opportunity to boost autumn sales. Year on year, new initiatives are launched to catch on to this trend, from fruit specially ripened to be available on the day, special packaging.

Supafresh has made special deals with retailers to promote their imported and ready-to-eat fruits on the Saturday. Nathan of Supafresh explains: “This year, we work with JD.com and Tmall.com. We supply them with avocado, orange and conference pear. For the avocado, the volume is quite big, a number of containers in total. And we promote the ripened avocado, packed with 3 pieces in 2-3 different maturity.”

Staff at Supafresh packing fresh avocadoes for delivery

Miss Fresh is offering special membership upgrades to its customers and discounts. According to Miss Fresh’s marketing manager: “We are making membership upgrade, and paying members can enjoy the special rights of japonica rice, such as delivery within 1 hour, 5 % return, exclusive preferential price and so on. On the same day of November 11th, members can enjoy a 50% discount on the whole merchandise.”

Kiwifruit producer Qifeng Fruit is organizing the "2017 Single's Day E-Commerce Carnival Night", starting on November the 10th. The night's events include online quizes and gifts for people that dial in.

In addition, JD.com is launching a "Single's Day Washington Apple" marketing campaign. Washington Apples are known amongst Chinese consumer for their crispness and sweetness. JD.com
Washington apples being marketed for Single's Day