| Thursday, 12 November 2015 12:32 |
Comment: What Alibaba's Singles Day can tell us
An enormous quantity of media attention has been given to the 60% increase in shopping during Alibaba's Singles Day. 
The first point worth mentioning is that this is not exclusively an event for single people anymore, although it started as a mock celebration for people not in relationships.
It seemed a pity though to ignore all those shoppers who were couples, so the rules were altered and it is now a shopping fest bigger than the US Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
So what does it tell us?
The total value of goods transacted by Alibaba Group during its Singles' Day shopping festival was 91.2bn yuan (US$14.32bn), the Chinese e-commerce giant claims, altough the figures are preliminary and unaudited.
The numbers got a boost this year from adding the sales from various new channels, including its affiliates and investees. In all, the figure for this year's Singles' Day is up 60% from 2014.
Of the total value of transactions, 68% was through orders from mobile devices.
Singles Day remains a closely watched barometer of the company's performance and an interesting window into payments technology development in this biggest market on the planet. Recently, Alibaba's sales data have been closely watched as a gauge of Chinese consumption as economic growth slows.
"Alibaba is positioned as the number one player in the Chinese e-commerce market, so it has to be seen to be maintaining, or gaining ground really," said Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based tech consultancy BDA.
One of the new sales channel pumping Alibaba's Singles' Day sales was Suning Commerce Group Co, in which it bought a 20% stake in August. Suning's in-store sales will count toward Alibaba's total gross merchandise volume, as long as they go through final processing online, an Alibaba spokesman said.
Alibaba has stressed its focus on international e-commerce. "Within the next five years, we expect China will become the world's largest e-commerce market for imported products," President Michael Evans told media on Wednesday.
Speaking at the company's Singles' Day celebration in Beijing, Jack Ma, the company's eccentric founder and executive chairman, told reporters the event's annual growth in the future should be over 50%.
Contact Europol. What happens to eg card data when a cyberattack harvests it, can you track the data. Is there eg an organised crime gang behind eg kids that are doing the attacks etc.
'Secondary merchant' payments rise in importance
ACI Worldwide sets out strategy after PAY.ON acquisition
ACI says its acquisition this month of German payment gateway Pay.On will enable it to provide a complete offering from the international eCommerce market.
eCommerce is growing rapidly, with global volume expected to grow at a 17% CAGR through to 2019, according to eMarketer data.
The purchase of Pay.On will strengthen ACI's omnichannel payments offering, according to Lynn Holland, VP product line manager - merchant retail solutions at ACI.
|
- Comprehensive listing and details of the major blockchain payments providers
