From the Associated Press, November 10:
Merchants and consumers alike found the Singles’ Day shopping festival Monday less shiny than in years past as e-commerce firms look abroad for growth.
The annual event named by the numeric form of its Nov. 11 date was started by e-commerce platform Alibaba, which offered attractive discounts to entice shoppers to spend big. The extravaganza has since expanded to other platforms like JD.com and Pinduoduo in China as well as abroad.
While Singles’ Day was previously a one-day event, shopping platforms in China now kickstart the festival weeks ahead to drum up sales volume. The festival has also traditionally been regarded as a barometer of consumer sentiment.
But amid China’s lagging domestic economy, dragged down by a real estate crisis and deflationary pressures, consumers no longer go all out on purchases during the shopping extravaganza....
....MUCH MORE
The Hang Seng is down 2% while the mainland indices are off fractionally. Oop, the came back from lunch and the Hang Seng Index is only down 1.90%.
