Singles Day fails to spark love from China’s weary consumers

Jacob Cooke, chief executive of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, who is based in Beijing, said the result showed that Alibaba had “clearly shifted” from celebrating excessive consumption.

“Part of that is the economic headwinds, but also the consumer market has matured and the days of 30 per cent growth . . . are far behind us,” Cooke said, adding that the “common prosperity and anti-monopoly pushes are also factors”.

Still, Cooke, of WPIC, said the shopping event remained the most important day of the year for many global brands given more than RMb1tn ($140bn) of spending. Slower growth levels was a sign of market maturation.

While Alibaba is under pressure, Cooke also noted the success of Douyin, the sister app of TikTok which has 700mn daily users, and noted high demand across health and wellness, pet, outdoor and sports categories, “reflecting lifestyles changes underway in China”.