Online Shopping Dominates Holiday Sales Results so Far

Xiaomi claims a record $3.11 billion in Singles Day sales

Xiaomi claims a record $3.11 billion in Singles Day sales

Xiaomi Sets Singles Day Sales Record, Raking in $3.11 Billion.
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has triumphed in the Singles Day shopping festival, achieving record-breaking sales across various platforms. From October 23 to November 11, the company reported an impressive 22.4 billion yuan ($3.11 billion) in product sales on platforms such as Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Douyin.

The news sparked positive market reactions, with Xiaomi's shares briefly surging over 2% in Hong Kong trade on Monday morning. However, locally traded shares of Alibaba and JD.com relinquished earlier gains.

For the second consecutive year, Alibaba and JD.com opted not to disclose total figures for the Singles Day shopping festival. While JD.com mentioned reaching record highs in transaction and order volumes, Alibaba noted growth in gross merchandise value (GMV), order numbers, and participating merchants compared to the previous year.

Xiaomi's claim to fame during this shopping extravaganza was the newly released Xiaomi 14 smartphone, which reportedly secured the top spot on Alibaba's Tmall from November 4 to 11. The company asserted its dominance across various categories of Chinese brands' smartphone sales on other online platforms.

In the absence of detailed product or brand sales information from Alibaba, Lululemon, a relatively new entrant to the Chinese market, reported a remarkable 260% increase in transaction volume on JD.com compared to the previous year.

HSBC analysts expressed optimism about Xiaomi's performance, stating in a November 6 report, "Much better-than-expected Mi14 sales create earnings accretion and potential valuation re-rating ahead." They subsequently raised their smartphone shipment forecasts for Xiaomi in 2023 and 2024.

Low expectations

Singles Day, which has evolved from a one-day shopping festival to a multi-week event, faced unique challenges in 2022 due to the lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite uncertainty about future income, Alibaba's 2022 Singles Day sales remained "in line" with the prior year, which recorded $84.54 billion GMV.

Livestreaming sales

Livestreaming and short videos continued to be influential sales channels during the festival. GMV from livestreaming increased by 19%, with platforms like Alibaba's Taobao and ByteDance's Douyin driving the trend. Tmall dominated sales with a 60% share, followed by JD.com at 28%, and Pinduoduo at 7%.
As corporate earnings calls unfold later in the week, more details on Singles Day results and Chinese consumer trends are expected to emerge. JD.com is scheduled to report quarterly results on Wednesday evening, while Alibaba is set to release earnings on Thursday evening Beijing time.