Argentinean economist Maria Cecilia Peralta amazed the boom of e-commerce in China and its massive influence worldwide, after Singles' Day on Nov. 11 reached new heights in online sales.
Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant, saw sales on its online shopping platform Tmall in 2017 for Singles' Day hit 168.3 billion yuan (about 25.4 billion U.S. dollars), a 39.35-percent rise compared to the 120 billion yuan (about 18.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016.
"Nov. 11 is one of the most awaited days by Chinese traders, from the smallest to the largest. On that day, Internet connections become slower for online sales, malls become swamped by tides of people enjoying big sales on all brands. Consumption goes overboard, especially among the young people," the expert said in an interview with Xinhua.
This year, "the day, as has happened year after year, set a new sales record. This is the case not only for sales but for deliveries. It is impressive to see small neighborhood businesses with online sales ... with the owners crouching at home packing up goods to send the orders from China," said Peralta.
She said that Argentina should learn "how this phenomenon is being manifested in virtual payment platform, with the related disappearance of payment in cash and credit cards."
"To benefit from China's e-commerce, Argentinean brands begin to adapt to the marketplace," she said, illustrating that most Argentineans do not know how to use China's Alipay or WeChat Pay.
During the Singles' Day, Argentinean Ambassador to China Diego Guelar gave a big surprise to a Chinese family in Shanghai by delivering to their home a box of Argentinean crawfish they ordered through Alibaba.
The family were amazed when opening their door to find Guelar saying "I am the Argentinean ambassador. You made an order of crawfish from my country and here they are. Enjoy this surprise coming from Argentina."
The day before, Alibaba's Tmall Fresh, specializing in foodstuffs, promoted Argentinean products, which was a huge success, as in the first four hours of the day, 36 million U.S. dollars worth of crawfish were sold.
"These numbers would be unbelievable in any country apart from China.The numbers have illustrated China's large scale of population and an enormous market demanding foreign products," said Guelar.
"The sales success of Argentinean products on the Singles' Day shows the potential of bilateral trade relationship and consolidates e-commerce platforms in China for our products. However, we must rise to the occasion and develop logistics for exports that allow us to meet Chinese demand," he noted.
Nov. 11 was first promoted by Alibaba in 2009 and has developed into an annual e-commerce frenzy.
