Analysis FMCGs dominate Singles’ Day and wider online shopping arena
Uniqlo, Midea, Honor and furniture maker Linsy among most popular sellers with sales each surpassing 100 million yuan within the first half hour of shopping event
Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) were among the most chased-after goods during Alibaba Group’s Singles’ Day online shopping extravaganza over the weekend, which highlights young Chinese consumers’ preference for convenience in buying daily necessities.
Cosmetics, books, baby goods, electronics, pharmaceutical products, fresh produce, clothing and mobile phones all recorded huge sales during this year’s event, according to data released by Alibaba, whose main shopping platforms are Taobao Marketplace, TMall, and AliExpress.
But in terms of the top individual brands, a broad representation from various categories of retailers stole the show.
Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, home appliance major Midea, mobile handsets brand Honor and Guangdong-based furniture maker Linsy were among the most popular sellers with sales each surpassing 100 million yuan within the first half hour of the shopping event.
FMCG spans everything from infant formula to soft drinks and beauty products, and China’s annual online spending volume last year shot up to US$25.3 billion from US$1.4 billion in 2010, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.
As Chinese urban dwellers rely more on e-commerce for their daily necessities to save time and money, online sales of packaged foods, alcoholic drinks and personal care products are expected to record exponential growth in the years to come, a recent survey by London-based consultancy OC&C found.
