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With more than half of the respondents citing "patriotism" as the main reason behind their avoidance, it seems that U.S. retail will be heavily excluded from the largest e-commerce day of the year. Last year, a record $30 billion of goods were purchased, which is its largest haul since 2009. To put that number in perspective, in 2018, Black Friday sales in the U.S. were $6.2 billion, Cyber Monday sales reached $7.9 billion and shoppers in July spent approximately $4.2 billion on Amazon
Chinese consumers are becoming more sensitive to any perceived slight on their culture or sovereignty amid a multi-year trade conflict between U.S. and China. As Western firms increasingly look to China for future growth given the size of the market, shoppers are holding them up to scrutiny. Citizens are becoming more vocal in support of China's sovereignty over its territories as the government confronts pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and the continuous trade war that has greatly impacted the price of imports. Chinese consumers are estimated to account for at least a third of current luxury sales and two-thirds of the industry's growth, according to Bain &Co.
The avoidance of American brands does not mean that Chinese consumers are going to ignore other foreign brands, including those from Europe, Japan, and South Korea, especially those of higher quality. The survey showed that 30% of consumers expect to purchase from foreign brands.
China's slowing economic growth this year is not going to slow down consumers either, for those surveyed in big cities said that they plan to spend 54% more this year.
Alibaba reported a 40% revenue increase for the quarter that ended in September. This improvement has been made on the back of strong sales at its China retail platforms and growth in annual active consumers. "Our digital economy continues to thrive and prosper," said Daniel Zhang Yong, executive chairman and chief executive of Alibaba. "We aim to serve over one billion annual active consumers and help our merchants achieve over 10 trillion yuan in annual gross merchandise volume by the end of fiscal 2024."
More than 200,000 domestic and foreign products and more than a million new products will be on sale this coming Single's day. Zhang described the company's Singles' Day festival as the commercial Olympic Games, which enables more brands to market their products and engage more consumers in China and around the world. Over the past year, Alibaba has focused on reaching smaller cities in China, with a majority of new-user growth coming from the country's less-developed areas.
- https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3035584/chinese-shoppers-say-they-would-shun-american-brands-during
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/11/01/chinese-shoppers-will-boycott-american-brands-during-singles-day-report/#196a4a405fd8
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-17/dior-feels-china-s-nationalism-heat-after-map-excludes-taiwan
- https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-brief-history-of-corporate-apologies-to-china-2019-10-09
- https://fortune.com/2019/11/04/china-singles-day-us-brand-boycott/
- https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3034212/rural-consumers-offer-opportunities-chinas-e-commerce-giants-amid
- https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3035966/alibaba-quarterly-revenue-jumps-40-cent-ahead-singles-day-shopping