While tech giants are closely watched by the Communist Party, Alibaba has downplayed the importance of its new record: € 74 billion in sales in just 24 hours.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Friday announced a new record for its annual "Singles Day" sale operation, with 74 billion euros spent in 24 hours. Up 8.5% compared to last year.
The "Singles Day" gives rise every year in China to a rush of consumers on their smartphones to order millions of products at reduced prices (clothing, food, computers ...).
But Alibaba, in the sights of regulators for several months, has contrary to its habits downplayed the importance of its new record.
"The amount of sales is no longer the only indicator of success," Alibaba said in a statement.
The "Singles Day" is presented as the biggest sales operation in the world, ahead of the American "Black Friday".
Alibaba in the crosshairs of the authorities
The group based in Hangzhou (eastern China) usually organizes a large media operation, where a giant screen shows in real time the amount of transactions carried out on its platforms. But Alibaba has kept a low profile since last year and its founder Jack Ma's criticisms of regulators, which he accused of hampering the development of his company.
The authorities had imposed the stop of a gigantic IPO (34 billion euros), of Ant Group, the financial arm of the company, on a background of concern about the systemic risks that such an operation would create weigh on the financial system.
Alibaba was then fined 2.3 billion euros for abuse of a dominant position. The platform was accused of prohibiting merchants from selling their products on competing platforms or of using algorithms to bombard consumers with purchase recommendations.
Alibaba's main competitor, JD.com, announced sales of 271 billion yuan (37 billion euros), a sharp increase of about 28% year on year. The two rival platforms say they have recorded particularly strong sales for certain items: household appliances, electronic devices, pet products and even cosmetics.
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