- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's BABA Southeast Asia e-commerce unit Lazada Group saw a slight pullback in higher-ticket items, including electronics, as Singles' Day's annual mega-sales event kicked off.
- Consumers are being more cautious when spending on high-ticket items like costly electronics, Lazada Chief Business Officer James Chang said in an interview with Bloomberg.
- "People are thinking, now that things open up, is there going to be a lot of pullback? Indeed, in certain sectors and areas, we see that," he said.
- Also Read: Alibaba and JD.com Impress With Presales Figures For Singles' Day
- Still, Alibaba expected customers to spend more and exploit discounts ahead of an anticipated era of accelerating inflation and a possible economic downturn.
- Many customers, especially for repeat purchase goods, looked to enjoy the discounts to stock up, he said.
- Lazada and Sea Ltd's SEA Shopee lured online shoppers during monthly mega-sales events, offering bargains and special deals in Southeast Asia.
- The discount-driven monthly affair reaches a peak during Singles' Day, a 24-hour-long sales bonanza on November 11 that seeks to replicate its Chinese peers' success.
- This year, online sales will likely stagnate as consumers cut back on spending amid rising inflation and the threat of a recession.
- Alibaba, the tech giant that dominates Singles' Day in China, will likely post flat to meager growth in takings from this year's event.
- Bloomberg even raised the prospect of an unprecedented fall in the value of its transactions.
- It's hard to see where sales will end at the end of Singles' Day, but Lazada is "quite bullish," Chang said.
- Alibaba kicked off its Singles Day extravaganza for the first time in years without its two mega sales stars.
- Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 4% at $72.57 premarket on the last check Friday.
- Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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