Though the year’s figures for consumer spending have largely disappointed, China is recording an early surge in parcel shipments as the Singles’ Day shopping season – the country’s largest annual consumer event – kicked off earlier than usual.
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As authorities roll out an array of stimulus measures aimed to inject momentum into the faltering economy and revive household consumption, e-commerce platforms are also employing their own incentives during the critical period for retailers.
In a departure from previous years, major online venues like Tmall, Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo moved up the start date for the mass discount period by 10 days. With presales launching on October 14, shoppers and media outlets have dubbed this year’s edition as “the longest shopping season ever”.
With the shopping festival taking a head start, China’s courier industry has also entered peak season ahead of schedule. On Tuesday – two days after e-commerce platform Taobao started its first round of major sales – 729 million packages were collected. According to China Post, the national mail service, this was a 74 per cent jump from the same day last year and broke the record for daily shipping volume.
Between Monday and Wednesday, couriers nationwide collected around 1.92 billion parcels, a nearly 50 per cent year-on-year increase.
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Beijing is banking on the shopping season to buoy consumer confidence, subdued this year by a slump in the property sector, uncertain job prospects and volatility in the stock market.
The Ministry of Commerce has urged its local bureaus to implement “trade-in” programmes for consumer goods, encouraging them to treat the shopping season as a “key moment to boost consumption” and “match supply with consumer demand” during a press conference on Thursday.