12-12 sales can’t top Singles’ Day

Chinese e-commerce retailers shifted focus away from price competition in Wednesday's new round of sales promotions, since online shoppers are still out of breath from the Singles' Day online sales promotions on November 11.

December 12, or 12-12-2012, was launched as an online sales promotion date by major domestic e-commerce firms like Gome.com.cn, Dangdang.com, Suning.com and Alibaba Group, who hoped it might echo November 11's success.

But this expectation was unrealistic given that consumer passion for online discounts was severely overtaxed by Singles' Day sales, Lu Zhenwang, an independent e-commerce analyst, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Data e-mailed by Dangdang to the Global Times Wednesday indicated that from Monday through noon on Wednesday, the company sold 50 million yuan ($8 million) of goods, compared to the 100 million yuan it took in on November 11 alone. Dangdang ran its December 12 sales promotion for three days starting Monday.

Inspired by Alibaba's tmall.com, which offered online shoppers a 50 percent discount across the board, domestic counterparts launched various price-cutting sales promotions on Singles' Day, resulting in the day's sales volume reaching more than 20 billion yuan.

"I bought enough goods on November 11 and don't plan to purchase more online, since the online retailers are not offering cheaper prices than on November 11," a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Yi told the Global Times Wednesday, adding that she is fed up with slow deliveries which may be due to overwhelmed warehouses amid online sales promotions.

Gome.com.cn and Dangdang both expressed concern about the slowdown in online shopping fervor when contacted by the Global Times Wednesday via e-mail.

In order to cope with disappointing online shopping demand, major domestic online retailers have diminished their focus on price competition, instead launching various campaigns either to attract consumers' attention or to advertise for later Christmas and New Year sales promotions, according to Lu.

E-commerce retailers did not put as much effort into Wednesday's sales promotions as they did on November 11, noted Lu. Gome.com.cn, Suning.com and 360buy offered cash coupons for select goods on their platforms, nothing different from the Singles' Day promotions.

But Alibaba tried a new tactic Wednesday on taobao.com. Instead of setting a single specific discount, Taobao sellers could decide how much to lower their prices, in an attempt to help small-scale online sellers establish their brands and better target their consumers, Taobao said in an e-mail to the Global Times on December 7.

However, a Hangzhou-based women's clothing retailer called DOKO, which participated in Alibaba's promotions both on November 11 and on December 12, said the new tactic contributed little to brand establishment or consumer research.