Chatter in the microblogging realm this past week was squarely focused on the Double Eleven shopping binge that saw e-commerce sites and smartphone makers log impressive sales on the date also known as Singles Day. But not everyone was boasting about huge sales, as executives from early e-commerce leader Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and smartphone aspirant Smartisan were both uncharacteristically quiet on their microblogs, hinting at mediocre results on the shopping holiday.
The situation was just the opposite at e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), which single-handedly commercialized a day that now generates more sales than even Black Friday or Cyber Monday in the US. That rapid success in such a short time was putting a strain on Alibaba’s Alipay electronic payments arm, which reportedly was restricted to processing payments from Alibaba’s own e-commerce sites. That meant other companies’ sites often couldn’t accept Alipay for payments on their sites during the day.
Bottom line: Alibaba will to focus on globalization to maintain momentum for its overvalued stock, but the shares are likely to pull back in the first half of next year due to overvaluation.
Alibaba sales jump on Double Eleven
This year’s November 11 shopping day belonged to e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), even though I’m just slightly reluctant to write too much about this overhyped company. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the impressive numbers that Alibaba logged during this year’s Double-Eleven Singles Day event, led by its headline total sales of 57.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion), up 63 percent from last year. The market didn’t seem too impressed with the growth, with Alibaba’s shares tumbling 3.9 percent in the US trading day after the end of the Chinese shopping binge. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The Commerce Ministry should mediate an industrywide settlement over Alibaba’s claims to the Double Eleven Trademark to prevent the dispute from disrupting the nation’s e-commerce development.
Regulator should mediate Double Eleven dispute
As the buying frenzy builds to a crescendo on this year’s November 11 Singles Day, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) should be commended for turning an ordinary day of the year into a shoppers paradise that now generates more sales than any other major retailing day in the world. (company announcement)
But this year’s binge-buying day has also seen some controversy, as Alibaba’s flagship Tmall shopping site reportedly made behind-the-scenes threats to some media warning them not to run advertisements featuring the Double Eleven moniker. Tmall reportedly said such ads violated its trademarks, and indeed Alibaba has registered several trademarks related to the “Double Eleven” name that is a Chinese shorthand for the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year. (previous post) Read Full Post…
I’m not a big fan of “events” like the upcoming November 11 Singles’ Day, which are often created by companies in an attempt to boost sales. But in this case the latest reports on the upcoming date are providing a bit of controversy and entertainment, with word that e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is taking steps to protect trademark rights to a shopping event that it single-handedly created. In this case, media are reporting that Alibaba is saying that it owns the rights to the “Double Eleven” trademark, and is telling media to reject related advertisements from rivals like JD.com (Nasdaq: JD). Read Full Post…
