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Here Comes the World's Biggest Shopping Spree -- Again (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the watch-out dept.

A reader shares a report: On Nov. 11, China celebrates Singles Day, a holiday dedicated to the nation's unattached. It's also the world's largest shopping festival -- and a bonanza for internet giant Alibaba Group. Up to 500 million consumers will visit sites run by the company searching for discounts on items including Bordeaux wine, UGG boots, SUVs, and high-end Japanese toilets. Citigroup estimates that Alibaba's sales during this year's event could reach 158 billion yuan ($23.8 billion). For Alibaba, Singles Day will also be a demonstration of how far its cloud business has come in eight years. At the peak of activity, Alibaba's servers may be tasked with processing 175,000 transactions a second from its own sites. "It's the day when the largest amount of computing power is needed in China," says He Yunfei, a senior product manager for Alibaba Cloud. [...] Alibaba dominates the Chinese cloud -- in part because local regulators won't issue data center operating licenses to foreign companies, curtailing the China ambitions of Amazon.com and Microsoft, the No. 1 and No. 2 cloud providers globally.

24 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Singles Day... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

    It seems odd to wait to buy something until a holiday if you're single. If I was single, I'd just buy what I wanted when I wanted. :shrugs:

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:Singles Day... by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Single's day is just how it all started. It has since become a mere hollow name.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    2. Re:Singles Day... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      It seems odd to wait to buy something until a holiday if you're single. If I was single, I'd just buy what I wanted when I wanted. :shrugs:

      Then you would pay more. Many items are deeply discounted on 11/11.

    3. Re:Singles Day... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      For reference, see Christmas, US.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    4. Re:Singles Day... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      "Christmas"? What are yule speaking about?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:Singles Day... by antdude · · Score: 1

      Sales. :/

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  2. China Follows the U.S. by sehlat · · Score: 1

    local regulators won't issue data center operating licenses to foreign companies

    It appears AliBaba (and other Chinese companies) have caught on to the American trick of using the government to guarantee their markets.

    1. Re:China Follows the U.S. by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

      Hey, I'll happily bash the US any hour of the day, but giving them the credit for protectionism is really short-sighted.

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    2. Re:China Follows the U.S. by sehlat · · Score: 1

      1. I didn't think of it as bashing the US at all. After all, imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery.

      2. We didn't invent protectionism, but the US has found more ways to implement it than the British we threw out in 1776.

    3. Re:China Follows the U.S. by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      You seem to suffer from a particularly distorted outlook. To be clear, US independence, the thieves who stole the country, then stole it from the thieves who sent thieves to steal it, all done in a particularly murderous fashion, not just the original theft but the follow up theft from the thieves who originated the theft, the proceeds of particularly murderous stealing. PS on the whole the thieves were fucking poms, people from England stealing from the English monarchy, after those poms stole the place from the orginal owners (sure there were other nationalities but largely it was a pommy exercise ie prisoner of his/her majesty with the H dropped and Australian vernacular). The US war of independence achieved not the slightest bit of independence for the original inhabitants more a genocidal massacre and simply allowed the thieves to steal it for themselves rather than for others (nothing what so ever to be proud, sort of more like organised crime activity that only criminals can cheer).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  3. Fake discounts by genka · · Score: 2

    If you're planning to shop on Ali, keep it mind that the vendors there often raise prices prior to 11/11 and the real savings are slim or nonexistent.

    1. Re: Fake discounts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is what I came in to comment for. Near all of them hike their prices then post a discount showing back down to the original price. Last year I saw some things were actually more expensive regardless. There is an add on for your browser that shows you price history. Chnprice

  4. Alibaba Amazon and middleman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There has been speculation over whether Alibaba Group will eventually buy Amazon or Ebay. It's vastly larger than Amazon and commands a larger share of the online shopping market, so it has the muscle to snap up smaller outlets like those 2 if it wants to expand and reduce its competition. The group has been acquiring other online brokers over time, so it's not without potentiality.

    Singles Day is certainly the largest shopping day and has been for some while, but Alibaba Group is huge anyway, with or without Singles Day. In a sense Alibaba Group already powers Amazon and Ebay both. Much of the sellers on those outlets simply buy from Alibaba and sell at a small markup on Amazon or Ebay. There's little reason at end of day to support a middleman skimming off the margins.

    1. Re:Alibaba Amazon and middleman by CrashNBrn · · Score: 2

      AliExpress is cheaper sure, if you consider 4-8 week shipment times reasonable, and an equally slow "Direct-from-China return experience."

      For most cases, I'd rather pay a little more on Ebay or Amazon for 2-10 day shipment times. And a much more convenient return process.

    2. Re:Alibaba Amazon and middleman by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      I'm usually quite happy to wait. Most of my Ali purchases are hobby related and I can plan ahead without urgency.
      When the local retailers here in NZ are charging up to 15 times the cost of a simple computer part, I feel it is becoming immoral to support them.

      There is a retailer association that goes stomping and shouting to the government about being threatened by online purchasing because we are not paying the goods and services tax (GST) which local retailers have to add to their prices, but the fact is that even accounting for that additional tax, the local prices are still usually 5 to 10 times what an online seller can offer, and often much more. I have not researched how much more or less a local retailer would have to pay for shipping goods here in bulk, as opposed to the single packages I have delivered, or the cost of storage and showroom space, or how much the greed-markup has to be to make them feel safe, but I still feel disinclined to support them when there is an alternative.

      I'm not likely to start ordering masses of junk just because somebody someplace has named a special day, but I will certainly be checking out the discounts.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    3. Re:Alibaba Amazon and middleman by Frederic54 · · Score: 1

      Maybe for people in the US, but in Canada where our Amazon has about nothing at double the US price, it is still better to order from China.
      With Fentanyl problem we have a 3 months delay now, but from AliExpress I select items with ePacket shipping, it is seen as "Xpresspost" here and it takes 1 or 2 week max before I get the item in hand, sometimes for a small $2 amount.

      --
      "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
  5. DDoS target practice ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... for IoT botnet?

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  6. Don't forget by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    11/11 is also "Pocky Day", because 11 11 looks like four of them.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  7. Shooting spree by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one that misread the title as "shooting spree"?

    I mean, it happens with such depressing regularity...

  8. Most wanted present by boudie2 · · Score: 1

    Big seller over there are $4k anatomically correct and life like female silicone dolls because for some odd reason there's way more males than females of marrying age. It's either that or turn gay. Lot of lonely guys in China.

    1. Re:Most wanted present by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      "for some odd reason"

      Sure.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Most wanted present by boudie2 · · Score: 1

      "for an unspeakably sinister reason"

  9. Very excited! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    I'm excited about another great year of Black Friday shopping! I mean, I already bought the pepper spray I'm going to use on other shoppers and everything! ;)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  10. Bordeaux wines by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    It is amazing a region as small as Bordeaux is able to supply that many China's singles in wine.