11.11, Singles' Day of 2015: news & updates

[Bussard Ramjet]

Seriously? Such a big country only $16 billion for the whole year?!
That's only slightly more than the number of Shanghai.

Indeed no doubt China is quite ahead in ecommerce.

But what you must understand is that ecommerce grows explosively. Just 5 years back in China as well, it was a fraction of today's size. Similarly, in India, ecommerce is growing at an explosive pace, and will continue to do so.

 

[TaiShang]

Xiaomi racks up $196.3 million in sales on TMall
during Singles' Day in China
View attachment 271282
Every November 11th is Singles' Day in China. It is the world's largest online shopping day, topping Cyber Monday in the U.S. As it turns out, Xiaomi was the top selling merchant for the holiday on the website of Chinese online retailer TMall. It also was the top seller of smartphones on other retail platforms like JD and Suning.

Among the special deals offered by Xiaomi for Singles' Day, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 was discounted 12% to $110 USD. The 64GB Xiaomi Mi Pad was priced at $173 USD after a $31 USD price cut. A popular purchase was the new Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse, which is similar to the very successful Mi Band, but adds a sensor to monitor the user's heart rate. By the end of the day in China, the device captured the top spot among smart devices offered in the sale.

This year, Xiaomi had $196.3 million in sales just on TMall alone during its Singles' Day event. Last year, it sold over $254 million overall on November 11th, up sharply from the more than $80 million it grossed on the date in 2013.

Excellent, each year more and more domestic (and rural domestic) content should be visible to ensure national competitiveness and innovation.

 

[AndrewJin]

Indeed no doubt China is quite ahead in ecommerce.

But what you must understand is that ecommerce grows explosively. Just 5 years back in China as well, it was a fraction of today's size. Similarly, in India, ecommerce is growing at an explosive pace, and will continue to do so.

It's not about e-commerce really, but some fundamentals that underpin e-commerce.
Such as logistics, rural China and some urban regions are calling for more radical improvement.

Excellent, each year more and more domestic (and rural domestic) content should be visible to ensure national competitiveness and innovation.

I am very optimistic about future markets.
With the rapid expansion of 4G network in rural China and Western China, more smart phone users are able to really enjoy the convenience of mobile shopping.

China mobile has already attracted nearly 200 million 4G users by June 2015.
Much more progressive compared to forecast

Here are some statistics from this year's event:

— $14.3 billion: Total value of this year's merchandise sales recorded by Alibaba, Amazon.com's counterpart in China, up more than 50 per cent from last year's total in U.S. dollars.

— 8 minutes: How long it took the total merchandise sold through Alibaba's electric payment service, Alipay, to exceed $1 billion.

— 94 million: Number of mobile buyers who purchased merchandise.

— $9.8 billion: Amount purchased by mobile shoppers, which exceeds the total of $9.3 billion for all purchases last year.

Source: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

China mobile 4G advertisement in Ma'erkang County, Western China.

 

[Dungeness]

Indeed no doubt China is quite ahead in ecommerce.

But what you must understand is that ecommerce grows explosively. Just 5 years back in China as well, it was a fraction of today's size. Similarly, in India, ecommerce is growing at an explosive pace, and will continue to do so.

E-commerce growing exponentially in China, is due to China's massive infrastructure and well education population, as well as personal financial well beings. India has none of these.

Though from the government statistics, Indian literacy rate is only 20 percent point behind China's, but China's literacy standard is much higher than India's. A person from Rural area needs to be able to read and write 1600 Chinese characters to be considered as literate, 2000 for an urban resident But in India, Being literate merely means he or she can write his or her own name. Yes, India's internet population is about 1/3 of China's, but large portion of these "internet population" never use internet at all, they merely have a internet capable phone. How much content is India's cyberspace is in local language?

You have a much tougher task than merely time lag.

 

[AndrewJin]

large portion of these "internet population" never use internet at all, they merely have a internet capable phone. How much content is India's cyberspace is in local language?

 

[Bussard Ramjet]

E-commerce growing exponentially in China, is due to China's massive infrastructure and well education population, as well as personal financial well beings. India has none of these.

Though from the government statistics, Indian literacy rate is only 20 percent point behind China's, but China's literacy standard is much higher than India's. A person from Rural area needs to be able to read and write 1600 Chinese characters to be considered as literate, 2000 for an urban resident But in India, Being literate merely means he or she can write his or her own name. Yes, India's internet population is about 1/3 of China's, but large portion of these "internet population" never use internet at all, they merely have a internet capable phone. How much content is India's cyberspace is in local language?

You have a much tougher task than merely time lag.

Ecommerce is already growing exponentially in India, albeit from a lower base.

Time lag already counts all of the difference that you cited.

 

[AndrewJin]

Ecommerce is already growing exponentially in India, albeit from a lower base.

Time lag already counts all of the difference that you cited.

Only praying for time is ridiculous, I don't know your mindset is universal or not in India, hopefully not.

 

[Dungeness]

BBC made a documentary about a project that some Indian volunteers were working on, I think it is about taking photos of the people who release themselves in public, then posting on line. The guy holding a smart phone was interviewed, but he said he had never used any of network functions of his phone, so he would not care what was on line. The reason for not using Internet was he didn't know English at all. Even a cell phone vendor interviewed said he had never used Internet function. Pretty amazing! Imaging a Chinese cell phone vendor tells you he has never used WeChat or QQ.

Indeed no doubt China is quite ahead in ecommerce.

But what you must understand is that ecommerce grows explosively. Just 5 years back in China as well, it was a fraction of today's size. Similarly, in India, ecommerce is growing at an explosive pace, and will continue to do so.

Well, if you say so. But get 2/3 of more than 100 million people in Bihar electricity first.

 

[AndrewJin]

BBC made a documentary about a project that some Indian volunteers were working on, I think it is about taking photos of the people who release themselves in public, then posting on line. The guy holding a smart phone was interviewed, but he said he had never used any of network functions of his phone, so he would not care what was on line. The reason for not using Internet was he didn't know English at all. Even a cell phone vendor interviewed said he had never used Internet function. Pretty amazing! Imaging a Chinese cell phone vendor tells you he has never used WeChat or QQ.

That's some fundamental social problems.
Now I know why those mini mobile phone factories can still make a living in India.
Even Chinese grandmas are using WeChat now.
My mother bought several thousand yuan stuff last night.

 

[cloud_9]

E-commerce growing exponentially in China, is due to China's massive infrastructure and well education population, as well as personal financial well beings. India has none of these.

Though from the government statistics, Indian literacy rate is only 20 percent point behind China's, but China's literacy standard is much higher than India's. A person from Rural area needs to be able to read and write 1600 Chinese characters to be considered as literate, 2000 for an urban resident But in India, Being literate merely means he or she can write his or her own name. Yes, India's internet population is about 1/3 of China's, but large portion of these "internet population" never use internet at all, they merely have a internet capable phone. How much content is India's cyberspace is in local language?

You have a much tougher task than merely time lag.

The major reason is that E-commerce focuses too much on Metro and Tier-1 cities.My hometown is a small city and other than Amazon none of the top sites deliver stuff to my Post Code.Most of the people don't live in metro cities.

 

[Shotgunner51]

BBC made a documentary about a project that some Indian volunteers were working on, I think it is about taking photos of the people who release themselves in public, then posting on line. The guy holding a smart phone was interviewed, but he said he had never used any of network functions of his phone, so he would not care what was on line. The reason for not using Internet was he didn't know English at all. Even a cell phone vendor interviewed said he had never used Internet function. Pretty amazing! Imaging a Chinese cell phone vendor tells you he has never used WeChat or QQ.

As you have mentioned (1) infrastructure, logistics, e-banking, etc, (2) huge & comprehensive industrial base, hence strong supply (3) literacy and individual wealth, hence strong purchasing power, are critical to e-commerce.

I have always been conservative on domestic consumption as mentioned previously. Chinese work too much, save too much (check Gross Domestic Savings data), and spend too little. I'm glad to see e-commerce helps to release more purchasing power from a die-hard "work-savings-work" mode, especially from urban middle class individuals/families. Despite the current progress, domestic consumption, e-commerce, will continue to grow due to two factors:

• Government tax schemes, social welfare programs (housing, medical, education), are still reforming progressively. Once these become mature, more purchasing power can be released.
  
• The rural population only accounts for 10% revenue of this "Singles' Day" festival, it will be a growth point. Despite massive urbanization, rural accounts for 43~48% of total pop now, and still will maintain at 30% in the long run.

For those countries in the global south that are currently at a very low developmental base, e.g. India, some Sub-Saharan African countries, they have to build the necessary capabilities as mentioned above, i.e. infra, industrial base, literacy, wealth, before e-commerce can take off.

P.S>:

PovcalNet
Reference Year 2012
Country; Population (m)
China*; 1,350.7m
China-Rural; 649.83m (48% of total)
China-Urban; 700.86m​

 

[Dungeness]

The major reason is that E-commerce focuses too much on Metro and Tier-1 cities.My hometown is a small city and other than Amazon none of the top sites deliver stuff to my Post Code.Most of the people don't live in metro cities.

I started a thread a while ago, on this very topic of e-commerce in rural India. The article I posted was written by an Indian, and he highly recommend Alibaba's "Taobao Village" model, where farmers utilize the infrastructure and Alibaba's service to turn their village into a rural e-commerce mini center.

But again, you need adequate infrastructure like roads, electricity, and reliable network, and then you need speedy delivery service like Cainiao, Shunfeng, Yuantong, etc, who promise same day or overnight delivery.

As you have mentioned (1) infrastructure, logistics, e-banking, etc, (2) huge & comprehensive industrial base, hence strong supply (3) literacy and individual wealth, hence strong purchasing power, are critical to e-commerce.

I have always been conservative on domestic consumption as mentioned previously. Chinese work too much, save too much (check Gross Domestic Savings data), and spend too little. I'm glad to see e-commerce helps to release more purchasing power from work-savings mode, especially from urban middle class individuals/families.

For those countries in the global south that are currently at a very low developmental base, e.g. India, some Sub-Saharan African countries, they have to build the necessary capabilities as mentioned above, i.e. infra, industrial base, literacy, wealth, before e-commerce can take off.

Agree. That is why I said the issue is much more fundamental and deep rooted than just time lag. It is a whole social structure of a society. As much as I wish the best for India, I don't see the possibility that India will be where China is in 15 years, not by a long shot.

 

[AndrewJin]

JD breaks 30 million orders on Singles Day, doubling last year’s record

With Singles Day now fully in the rearview mirror, the folks at JD have finally released the company’s final order count, and it’s impressive. Having collected more than 30 million orders over the 24-hour period, JD has more than doubled its 2014 sales record (last year it wound up at 14 million orders).

Like Alibaba, JD had a great day for mobile sales. The company says more than 70 percent of its orders came via mobile.

It’s not clear exactly how to compare JD’s Singles Day to Alibaba’s. JD hasn’t released any sales or revenue numbers, and Alibaba hasn’t directly provided order numbers either.

Alibaba has said that its logistics arm processed 467 million delivery orders during Singles Day, but without knowing exactly what constitutes a “delivery order” and what constitutes an “order” for JD, it’s still tough to compare them.

On paper, we know that Alibaba sold more, but JD’s growth also looks impressive. It got more orders this year than it has over its past five Singles Days combined.

今年双十一，京东在原有自身自营物流的基础之上，着力布置众包物流，为此招募了近10万兼职物流人员送货。

刘强东：迄今为止，整个京东的众包物流平台注册的众包物流员工已经超过了30万名，所以现在呢，我们每天平均有超过20万个包裹，都是通过我们的众包物流送过去的。在双十一那天，我们预计会有超过50万个包裹。

不仅是城市，农村也是电商争夺的焦点，京东商场也加大了下沉速度。在全国12万个行政村，京东招募了乡村合作点和推广员，让农村消费者享受一线城市一样的品质与服务。
京东双十一聘用10万名兼职快递 当天预计包裹超50万|京东|刘强东_凤凰科技

Briefing: JD has hired 100,000 part-time deliverymen apart from JD's own logistics system. JD has hired village promoters and cooperated with 120,000 villages across the country in a bid to ensure rural consumers enjoying the same service and quality in line with first-tier cities.

 

[AndrewJin]

Undeveloped west China joins Singles' Dayshopping spree
XINING - Smartphone in hand, Tibetan villager Zhoima stayed up late on Tuesday, waiting for the start of the 24-hour online shopping extravaganza known in China as Singles' Day.

When the clock struck midnight, she raced to pay for the dozens of items in her shopping cart. "You have to be quick or the stuff may sell out, since the goods on special offer are usually in limited supply. I don't want to let people down," she said, referring to the many locals who entrust Zhoima to help them buy things online.

Singles' Day eclipses its US equivalents Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba took 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) within the first 12 minutes and 28 seconds of Wednesday.

While most of this spending comes from China's affluent east coast, the Internet shopping craze is steadily reaching western areas like Tibet, where infrastructure has historically been weak and many people lack computer literacy.

Zhoima's home of Changjiangyuan on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is dominated by Tibetan herdsmen. Though over 90 percent of the villagers have Internet access, around half of them have never bought anything online.

"Many do not know how to link their bank accounts to online payment platforms. Some of the elderly do not speak Mandarin so have even more difficulty using the Internet," said Zhoima, one of the few university graduates in Changjiangyuan.

"I've been especially busy with the approach of Singles' Day, as more people have come to my house hoping to line up things to buy when they go on promotion. My shopping cart on Taobao.com has been stuffed with all kinds of things, from clothes and shoes to daily necessities and phones."

Cering, head of Changjiangyuan's Communist Party of China committee, said online shopping has gained local popularity quickly in the past two years. "The infrastructure here has been improving, and most families now have access to the Internet. Under the influence of young people, seniors and young children are also becoming interested in online shopping."

Aside from the public being able to get their shopping fix, officials have high hopes that rising e-commerce can boost the economy. National leaders have pinned their hopes on consumer spending as China's traditional drivers of exports and manufacturing slow. Local leaders are excited about the extra jobs that more businesses will create and want farmers to use online retail to improve their livelihoods.

Cering is trying to help herdsmen open online stores to sell beef and mutton to more far-flung buyers. "Here, a whole sheep sells for about 400 yuan, but in nearby Golmud City, just one kg of mutton goes for over 30 yuan," he explained.

Alibaba predicts rural Chinese will spend more than 460 billion yuan online in 2016, a massive rise from 180 billion yuan in 2014. The company is hungrily eyeing the huge potential, but much work needs to be done in promotion and developing a network of delivery depots and transport capable of covering remote and mountainous Tibet.

"Most delivery firms cannot reach our village. Sometimes, we have to go into town to get our packages, which usually takes about 40 minutes by bus," Zhoima said.

Zhaxi, from Menyuan Hui autonomous county in Qinghai province, runs an online store selling dairy produce, beef jerky and honey.

"Generally, an e-retailer will see its daily sales grow by over 50 percent on Singles' Day, but that will not happen to mine. Most of our customers are regulars; our brand is still unknown to most people and the inconvenient logistics here make our products less competitive," he said.

An official from the Qinghai commerce department who would only give her surname, Xue, said, "E-commerce in the west is still in its infancy. Many parts, especially those at high altitude, are scarcely populated, so it is not really cost-effective to set up logistics centersthere."

Both governments and companies are trying to improve the situation.

Earlier this year, two ministries issued special funds to help Qinghai develop e-commerce in the countryside by building more delivery depots, improving transport and cultivating local brands.

Alibaba and rival JD.com have also been extending their reach.

Last year, Alibaba signed contracts with the western regions of Xinjiang and Gansu to help local farmers do business online, while JD.com last month opened a logistics center in a Qinghai county that has an average altitude of 2,500 meters.

A taobao collaborator in a village of Beichuan County

 

[Dungeness]

Undeveloped west China joins Singles' Dayshopping spree
XINING - Smartphone in hand, Tibetan villager Zhoima stayed up late on Tuesday, waiting for the start of the 24-hour online shopping extravaganza known in China as Singles' Day.

When the clock struck midnight, she raced to pay for the dozens of items in her shopping cart. "You have to be quick or the stuff may sell out, since the goods on special offer are usually in limited supply. I don't want to let people down," she said, referring to the many locals who entrust Zhoima to help them buy things online.

Singles' Day eclipses its US equivalents Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba took 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) within the first 12 minutes and 28 seconds of Wednesday.

While most of this spending comes from China's affluent east coast, the Internet shopping craze is steadily reaching western areas like Tibet, where infrastructure has historically been weak and many people lack computer literacy.

Zhoima's home of Changjiangyuan on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is dominated by Tibetan herdsmen. Though over 90 percent of the villagers have Internet access, around half of them have never bought anything online.

"Many do not know how to link their bank accounts to online payment platforms. Some of the elderly do not speak Mandarin so have even more difficulty using the Internet," said Zhoima, one of the few university graduates in Changjiangyuan.

"I've been especially busy with the approach of Singles' Day, as more people have come to my house hoping to line up things to buy when they go on promotion. My shopping cart on Taobao.com has been stuffed with all kinds of things, from clothes and shoes to daily necessities and phones."

Cering, head of Changjiangyuan's Communist Party of China committee, said online shopping has gained local popularity quickly in the past two years. "The infrastructure here has been improving, and most families now have access to the Internet. Under the influence of young people, seniors and young children are also becoming interested in online shopping."

Aside from the public being able to get their shopping fix, officials have high hopes that rising e-commerce can boost the economy. National leaders have pinned their hopes on consumer spending as China's traditional drivers of exports and manufacturing slow. Local leaders are excited about the extra jobs that more businesses will create and want farmers to use online retail to improve their livelihoods.

Cering is trying to help herdsmen open online stores to sell beef and mutton to more far-flung buyers. "Here, a whole sheep sells for about 400 yuan, but in nearby Golmud City, just one kg of mutton goes for over 30 yuan," he explained.

Alibaba predicts rural Chinese will spend more than 460 billion yuan online in 2016, a massive rise from 180 billion yuan in 2014. The company is hungrily eyeing the huge potential, but much work needs to be done in promotion and developing a network of delivery depots and transport capable of covering remote and mountainous Tibet.

"Most delivery firms cannot reach our village. Sometimes, we have to go into town to get our packages, which usually takes about 40 minutes by bus," Zhoima said.

Zhaxi, from Menyuan Hui autonomous county in Qinghai province, runs an online store selling dairy produce, beef jerky and honey.

"Generally, an e-retailer will see its daily sales grow by over 50 percent on Singles' Day, but that will not happen to mine. Most of our customers are regulars; our brand is still unknown to most people and the inconvenient logistics here make our products less competitive," he said.

An official from the Qinghai commerce department who would only give her surname, Xue, said, "E-commerce in the west is still in its infancy. Many parts, especially those at high altitude, are scarcely populated, so it is not really cost-effective to set up logistics centersthere."

Both governments and companies are trying to improve the situation.

Earlier this year, two ministries issued special funds to help Qinghai develop e-commerce in the countryside by building more delivery depots, improving transport and cultivating local brands.

Alibaba and rival JD.com have also been extending their reach.

Last year, Alibaba signed contracts with the western regions of Xinjiang and Gansu to help local farmers do business online, while JD.com last month opened a logistics center in a Qinghai county that has an average altitude of 2,500 meters.

A taobao collaborator in a village of Beichuan County
View attachment 271304 View attachment 271305

Tibetan herdsmen have internet access and start using e-commerce, and this sounds better to my ear than additional billion worth of goods sold to East Coast!

Just wonderful!