It′s Singles′ Day in China， in other words： the biggest online shopping day in
the world.
Thousands of Chinese online consumers are clicking away before the day is up... and
THIS is prompting Korean exporters to customize marketing strategies － at least for today
－ for the Chinese local market.
Our Shin Se－min has this story.
It was an impressive start.
E－commerce giant Alibaba Group logged over three－point－nine billion U.S. dollars
in the first hour of China′s Singles′ Day.
And the mega－retailer′s total gross merchandise volume keeps on climbing，... as the 24－hour
deadline approaches.
November 11th， eleven－eleven， started out as an obscure event in the 1990s，…
where the country′s bachelors and the bachelorettes celebrated being single.
But in 2009， Alibaba turned it into an e－commerce phenomenon，… with sales reaching nearly
9－billion dollars last year， all through online shopping.
It′s much like the U.S.′ Cyber Monday or Black Friday，… except the size of Singles′
Day sales is FOUR－TIMES that of Cyber Monday.
On this day last year，…
Alibaba raked in total sales worth over 10－trillion won，… or eight－point－six billion dollars，…
which is 100 times more than what all Korean online retailers combined have made in China
in the past five years.
″China′s online retail market only takes up 10－percent of the entire domestic market，…
a minimal portion for now.
But the speed of growth is so fast it′s hard to predict.″
Ranging from electronic goods to clothing，… the sales event also brings in over five－thousand
overseas brand from 25 countries，… including Korea， U.S. and Japan.
It′s one of the better ways to publicize Korean brands to some 20－percent of the
world′s entire population online，... during a 24－hour window.
″In order to turn this mega－sales event into a long－term opportunity，... local
exporters need to better come up with marketing tactics targeting specific age groups， mostly
those in their 20s and 30s，... and particular regions.″
″With China rebalancing its economy to one based on consumer spending，... following
its slowing economic growth，... it has become much clearer，... that Korean exporters...
mulling over options to restructure their export strategies should put heavier emphasis
on shipping consumer goods to China.
Shin Se－min， Arirang News.″