Reuters
From splurge to ‘common prosperity’: Alibaba tones down Singles Day
Alibaba Group’s annual ‘Singles Day’ shopping spree is set for its most sober tone ever this year, as the retail giant preaches sustainability rather than hyping the usual sales boom amid calls by Beijing to promote “common prosperity”. In 2020, Alibaba expanded what it calls the world’s biggest online shopping festival from a one-day November 11 event into a 11-day extravaganza, with celebrity performances and a sales metric ticking over live on a scoreboard that ended with the news that it had racked up $74 billion in orders, or ‘gross merchandise value’ (GMV), flashing big and bright. This time around, the event comes at a time of much more stringent regulatory scrutiny for China’s biggest companies – including Alibaba – and the call to promote “common prosperity” and curb excess echoing around boardrooms.
