AI puts wind in the sales of Singles’ Day as China’s e-commerce giants hit records
From algorithmic promotions to AI chatbots, Alibaba and JD.com use new tools to hit Singles’ Day records and defy a sluggish economy
During the event, which ran for almost a month from mid-October, Alibaba’s online retail platforms Taobao and Tmall saw more than 34,000 brands double their sales from a year ago, the company said on Saturday.
The results “reaffirmed the platforms’ position as the leading gateway to the China consumer market”, the company said. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Tmall, Alibaba’s premium online shopping platform which mainly hosts established brands, recorded its “strongest growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) net of refunds in four years”, according to Liu Bo, president of Tmall.
JD.com, the long-standing rival of Alibaba, said the number of customers making a purchase during the event had increased by 40 per cent year on year, while order volume rose by nearly 60 per cent.
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok owned by ByteDance, saw 67,000 brands double their sales year on year during its event from October 9 to November 11, while RedNote, the social media platform, said it recorded 140 per cent growth in the number of merchants whose sales exceeded 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million).