When I was in college, the only thing to expect on November 11 was boring matchmaking parties on campus. Now Singles Day has turned into the biggest online shopping carnival in the world. Undoubtedly, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group was the ‘prince’ of this year’s big party, but which sector played the role of Cinderella? Smartphones? Not so; it seems that only Xiaomi elbowed its way into the list of the top 10 best-selling brands on the day. What about home textiles such as cushions, quilts and curtains?
The industry boasted the largest sales volume but lost steam when it comes to overall value. In my opinion, the answer could be auto dealer websites such as Autohome.com and BitAuto.com. According to local media, both sites ramped up online promotion campaigns on Singles Day and received orders in excess of US$2.29 billion (RMB14 billion) – two fifths of the total transaction value on Tmall, China’s largest B2C website. One of my industry friends was quite optimistic about their future, saying that a few years ago nobody expected that e-business could be an essential part of the car selling process in China. Autohome.com, which has just applied for a US IPO, originated as a website to choose cars; BitAuto.com was initially an auto technology consulting platform. Both are now vertically-integrated websites, playing new roles such as building brands, pitching potential customers and making deals. This new model of auto marketing proved to be very successful on its Singles Day debut. Will “Double 11” become a national auto sale festival someday? We’ll see.
Spicy Hotpot is written by Chinese commentators analyzing domestic political and economic issues.
