The Chinese e-commerce tycoon Alibaba announced that during the commercial Double 11 [November 11th] holiday, their overall sales value exceeded 30 billion USD. This is more than 80% of the value of Amazon sales during the third quarter.
A representative of Alibaba stated that the exact amount spent during the Double 11 holiday reached 268.4 billion yuan [38.21 billion USD]. This is yet again a new record for the 11th year in a row, according to Alibaba. However, analysts stated that the sales speed during Double 11 was not as fast as last year. The overall speed of economic growth in China is at a low point and the entire e-commerce industry is slowing down.
Sales during Double 11 are an indicator of consumer confidence in China. Alibaba intends to enter the stock market in Hong Kong this month. They plan to issue stocks worth 15 billion USD. Double 11 therefore presented an opportunity to test consumer confidence in the company. Alibaba has already entered the stock market in the USA and is busy diversifying their activities. However, more than 80% of their activities are still connected to e-commerce.
Source: Reuters Hangzhou