Following the phenomenal success of the Chinese 11.11 festiaval, Alibaba have released a Singles’ Day 2017 infographic covering the main numbers.
The headline number of £25.3 billion GMV sold is in itself staggering enough, up 39% on Single’s Day 2016. Even more impressive is the 90% of GMV transacted on mobile platforms. In the UK well over 50% of sales are touched by mobile but we still lag behind China in mobile volumes.
Also of interest are the top five countries selling to China by GMV, which are Japan, United States, Australia, Germany, and South Korea. This indicates that there is plenty of room or UK businesses to grow in China and we’re lagging behind some of the ecommerce powerhouses we normally hold our own against.
Why don’t you sell to China?
There are many reasons why UK sellers don’t sell to China, the cost and upfront investment in people and time normally being the top prohibitors. However there are partners like Newegg for example who can make selling to China much less painful than it has traditionally been. Plus of course Alibaba themselves have held a Gateway ’17 event in both the US and Canada to hook western retailers up with experienced Chinese Taobao merchants who then act as intermediaries in China.
Singles’ Day 2017 Infographic
If you want further evidence that China a fast growing territory that you can’t afford to ignore, here is Alibaba’s Single’s Day 2017 infographic:
