With Singles’ Day approaching, shoppers are getting their credit cards ready and retailers are stocking up.
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A total of 33 brands on Tmall have already reported RMB100 million in pre-sales for this year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.
The pre-sales value of consumer electronics on Tmall have increased nearly six-fold, year-on-year, with popular brands including Apple, Huawei, Haier, Xiaomi, Midea,
Siemens, Gree and Dyson.
The overall pre-sales turnover of beauty care products has doubled from last year, with pre-sales of 12 brands each reaching over RMB100 million, including Lancôme, Olay, Estée Lauder, SK-II, L’Oréal, Snow Show, Elizabeth Arden and Shiseido.
And pre-sales aren’t just soaring for consumer electronics and beauty products.
Cars are proving to be another popular offering.
Buick pre-sold 7,000 vehicles in a week, of which more than 1,000 were purchased by villagers with the help of “Rural Taobao representatives” at Rural Taobao village centers, a network Alibaba built to promote two-way trade between China’s rural and urban regions.
Additionally, 90 Land Rover vehicles worth RMB265,900were pre-sold.
Other hot items and categories include: pre-sales of five-star hotels, such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Intercontinental, which have collectively pre-booked 350,000 nights; Burberry’s limited-edition wool scarf, which sold out on the first day of the pre-sale; and New Balance, which has sold more than 60,000 pairs of new arrival shoes on Tmall.
Meanwhile, retailers are making sure they will not run out of stock.
Cainiao’s warehouses are bursting with record-breaking volumes of pre-stocked inventory.
The total weight of inventory in these warehouses exceeds three million tons.
Alibaba’s smart logistics arm has set up 14 global fulfillment centers, with a wide range of products stocked in bonded warehouses across 10 ports in China.
Cainiao has also opened regular air freight services linking Hangzhou with Liege, Belgium on November 3.
It has four such chartered routes planned for this year’s 11.11 – Hangzhou-Moscow, Hangzhou-Liege, Hong Kong-Moscow and Zhengzhou-Riga.