Balenciaga, Prada, IWC lead global luxury brands in bowing to online shopping as China’s Singles’ Day sets e-commerce record

Many brands, including Balenciaga and Prada, launched Singles’ Day promotions for the first time this year

JD.com says the transaction value of goods from more than 130 luxury brands surged by 100 per cent year on year in the first 30 minutes of sales

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A screen shot of Balenciaga’s Tmall virtual store. Photo: Taobao

Published: 7:06pm, 11 Nov 2020Updated: 11:36pm, 11 Nov 2020

Global luxury retailers embraced the Singles’ Day online shopping bonanza this year like never before, pulling out all the stops to attract Chinese consumers amid a gloomy outlook for consumption elsewhere in the world.

About 200 luxury brands launched special promotions on Tmall to take advantage of the shopping festival, which is held on November 11 every year, doubling the number reported last year, according to Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the e-commerce platform as well as this newspaper.

Many brands were launching Singles’ Day promotions on the platform for the first time. These included Spanish fashion house Balenciaga, Italy’s Prada, as well as a handful of clothes, jewellery and watch brands owned by Swiss group Richemont, such as Cartier, Piaget, Montblanc and IWC Schaffhausen.

Singles' Day was first promoted by Alibaba in 2009 and has since become famous for the steep discounts rolled out by vendors over the years. The shift to this Black Friday-style festival underscores the growing importance of Chinese shoppers and e-commerce amid the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to batter the global luxury goods industry.