Amazon v Alibaba online shopping giants go head to head. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba filled a record $30.7 billion in orders on Sunday during its annual “Singles Day” shopping frenzy.
The world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event, celebrating its tenth year, kicked off early Sunday.
And once again shattered its own sales mark as Chinese online buyers seized on promotions to snap up everything from electronics to clothing and housewares.
Sales rose 27 percent, compared with 39 percent last year.
Singles Day was originally set aside as an unofficial day for China’s unmarried, but Alibaba latched on to it a decade ago as a shopping promotion akin to the late-November US “Black Friday” retail crush.
Capitalising on the growing addiction to one-click smartphone payments in China, it has proven a huge success.
But Alibaba earlier this month lowered slightly its full-year revenue forecast, citing consumer uncertainty over the economic outlook.
However, company officials remain bullish on the future as Alibaba pushes new initiatives.
“I think you have to understand Alibaba and what Alibaba is doing in the context of the long-term secular trend that’s developing in China, which is the rise of the Chinese middle class,” Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai said at a Singles Day gala.
“That trend is not going to stop, trade war or no trade war.”
Amazon
If one thing is for certain, it’s that there is a dominant figure in the e-commerce world you might have thought of Amazon first.
They have 300 million active users, bring in billions of online revenue each year, and hold 49.1% of the U.S. e-commerce market share.
They are the literal definition of a tech giant. And they keep growing well beyond the e-commerce space.
But hold on Amazon, your quest for global domination won’t come without a fight.
Because in Asia Alibaba is ready for a battle both in the e-commerce space and out.
So in this tech company showdown, who will win?
Who is Alibaba?
Not sure who Alibaba is? Don’t worry, you’re definitely not alone—at least if you’re in the U.S. Alibaba is China’s biggest online commerce company.
Although it is only domestic, China has 618 million internet users which is obviously less than half of their population so there’s room for growth.
Using their reach, Alibaba does their work through three websites: Taobao, Tmal and Alibaba.com.
