Alibaba Says Sales Grew Despite Subdued Festival

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group says it recorded US$84.54 billion in orders, or "gross merchandise value" (GMV), over its 11-day Singles' Day sales event, marking a roughly 14 percent increase from the year prior.

The results come as overall consumption on the mainland slows, and cap a relatively muted version of a sales festival that Alibaba once aggressively promoted.

Before the sales period began, analysts had said they expected Alibaba to report only a minor increase in GMV this year, citing slowing retail sales, supply shortages, power disruptions and Covid-19 lockdowns.

Alibaba turned the informal Singles’ Day holiday into a shopping event in 2009 and built it into the world’s biggest online sales fest.

Since then, the festival, which Alibaba last year stretched to a 11-day event with the best deals concentrated in two discount periods, November 1-3 and November 11, has become a closely watched gauge of consumer sentiment in the world's second-largest economy.

Last year, the company racked up US$74 billion in GMV over the event's 11 days.

This year, Alibaba Group played down its sales figures and touted its social welfare initiative.

Eschewing a rolling tally tracking transactions that had taken centre stage in previous years, Alibaba urged viewers of a three-hour livestream to click "like" and help raise 1 million yuan an 81-hectare elephant reserve.

The shopping event comes after a year of ongoing regulatory tightening in several industries.

Alibaba was fined a record US$2.8 billion for monopolistic behaviour in April and its founder, Jack Ma, the country's highest-profile entrepreneur, has retreated from public view after criticising regulators a year ago. (Reuters)