China’s Singles’ Day sales slow as bargain hunters seek affordable deals

BANGKOK (AP) — Sales during China’s largest online shopping festival, Singles’ Day, jumped almost 18% from a year earlier but the pace of growth slowed as bargain hunters opted for more affordable deals.

Consumers have been tightening their belts, spending cautiously due to a prolonged slump in the property market, lagging wages and high unemployment among the young Chinese who usually would be most likely to splurge on online purchases.

Chinese retail data provider Syntun said Wednesday that the estimated combined sales value for this year’s online retail bonanza, the country’s equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday when e-commerce giants offer deep discounts, reached almost 1.7 trillion yuan ($238 billion).

The almost 18% increase in sales was just over half the nearly 27% increase in 2024, when sales totaled 1.44 trillion yuan.

Syntun noted that the comparison was not direct, since this year’s festival was roughly a week longer. Analysts said that was partly to help prop up sales for the e-commerce companies at a time of softer demand.

“This year’s Singles’ Day should be viewed as a positive signal for China’s consumer economy,” said Jacob Cooke, CEO of the consultancy WPIC Marketing + Technologies.

“The longer sales window means year-on-year comparisons are imperfect, but the underlying indicators — strong participation, high engagement, and broad category strength — show that consumers are still spending,” Cooke said.

E-commerce giant Alibaba launched Singles’ Day in 2009 as a one-day sales event on Nov. 11, a celebration for singles since it is known in Chinese as “Double 11.”

Consultancy Bain & Company said in a recent report that Singles’ Day’s “once-stellar growth” has been maturing over the past several years. Increasing sales beyond current high levels may be tough, partly because of the sluggish economic climate, it said.

Still, JD.com, one of China’s biggest e-commerce platforms, said its turnover reached a record high, with a nearly 60% jump in the number of orders and a 40% increase in the number of shoppers.

It did not provide further details or say how much of that increase came from inside China versus overseas. Fashion, beauty and sports items were among the best sellers, JD.com said.

Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao e-commerce platforms have not disclosed their total sales figures, although the company said some merchants achieved “more than 100%” growth in terms of sales compared with before the festival began.