China's Singles' Day Sales Stagnate Amid Weak Domestic Demand

China's Singles' Day shopping festival is struggling to stimulate consumer spending, with cumulative sales reaching just over 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion) as of October 31. This figure remains broadly in line with the previous year, reflecting a prolonged property downturn and weak domestic confidence.

While the overall economy grew 4.6% from January to September, the momentum is driven by a 35% surge in October exports of semiconductors and electric vehicles. This contrasts sharply with a modest 1.1% rise in domestic retail sales. Alibaba Group has attempted to counter this trend by integrating Qwen AI into its Taobao and Tmall platforms to encourage spending, while livestreamers have seen high demand for AI token plans.

Demand for luxury goods from conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering has softened, though health and lifestyle products are emerging as new status symbols. Economic analysts suggest that the strong performance in exports has reduced the urgency for the Chinese government to implement policies that would rebalance the economy toward household demand.