00:00Boy, have we seen the reach of Singles Day into weeks, into months, but are the numbers actually good when you take into, well, the idea that it is longer than on previous times?
00:11Yeah, we did a like-for-like comparison. We think it's about 14.8% up over last year, which is actually much better than expected.
00:18We think this is the strongest one since 2021, and they ran a week earlier and a couple days later, but even taking that into account, we're pretty optimistic at the Chinese consumer right now.
00:30Okay, where is the Chinese consumer right now?
00:33Well, middle-class growth was pretty good. Alibaba is now reporting numbers, especially with their 88 VIP program that's also really strong, and that's focused on a more upscale consumer.
00:44They're reporting 30% up in that particular category, so that's pretty good. Middle-class consumers are what people have been worried about over the last couple of years.
00:53There's been pressure in employment, so that really didn't play any consequences here for this 11.11. It was great.
01:01You know, we're seeing close to 15% growth year over year, which is already the largest shopping festival, so these numbers are pretty optimistic.
01:08Jacob, are we in a position where we can look at all of the Chinese technology companies that participate in this and say, this specific company won.
01:18They are ahead.
01:19Alibaba is the one I'm thinking about most because in early October, the shares hit, I think, their highest level since 2021, but there's no sort of tangible evidence that any one company, at least from what I can see on the Bloomberg Terminal, did any better, or AI made any more impact than any other in this period.
01:39Yeah, it's interesting. I think for sure the destination platforms, as opposed to the social commerce platforms, did better here.
01:47So that's JD, that's Alibaba. They're definitely, we think, much stronger growth than the Doyin or Rednode platforms.
01:54Right.
01:54But AI really did. I mean, the business advisor that Alibaba released is quite effective.
02:00You know, it made things a lot more efficient. Despite that growth of 14.8% that we think they came in at, you know, ad spend growth was much lower than that, which means that acquisition costs have come down, and Alibaba is really making it more efficient to find your customers.
02:16And I think what's going to happen as a result of that is we're going to see a lot more ad shift maybe away from the Doyin and TikToks next year into Alibaba platform, I think which is going to further drive that growth.
02:26Jacob, what did you learn about the health of the Chinese economy?
02:30You know, this came in better than expected for us, too, as well.
02:35You know, so we see really solid growth.
02:38And we've seen this, what we looked at, we saw labor pressure also picking up in terms of salaries and the amount of household income recently.
02:46So this wasn't totally unexpected.
02:48But I think if there was any apprehension about the stability of that middle class consumer or upper class consumer, I think that should be over.
02:55And I think we're heading into a really good 2026 in terms of the story about the Chinese consumption.
03:01I mean, the government's been there to prop it up.
03:02There's been subsidies.
03:03So in many ways, people would say that they should be able to buy at this moment.
03:07What is it that they buy in terms of domestic brands versus, well, the companies that you advised who are trying to access Asia at this moment?
03:15Yeah, I think it's all over the place.
03:17I mean, when we look at, again, when I was talking about the 88 VIP and we look at that middle and upper class consumer, we would see a lot more of the imported products consumed by that demographic.
03:25So that's what's driving a lot of that growth right now.
03:28But, you know, I think that a lot of the local brands, especially, you know, mainly TikTok and Doyen focused, a little bit more price conscious.
03:38But I think what happened, again, you know, Alibaba's business advisor, you know, we expected, you know, in terms of the price recommendations to drive pricing down.
03:47We thought that was what it was going to do.
03:48But we were actually pleasantly surprised.
03:50In some cases, it had actually recommended that prices come up, which has been good for margins.
03:54So I think all of those factors, you know, put into place, I think foreign brands are going to be a little bit more focused on that market for next year, seeing a little bit more margin growth and top line revenue growth.
04:05Stephen Engel, our reporter over in Asia, did a beautiful wrap up of, like, the ways in which they are targeting using e-commerce, social media and the influence of influencers.
04:16But how are you seeing AI and some of the ways in which technology are helping some of the brands that you represent?
04:22Well, I think just from being on the ground, this year was very efficient.
04:27I mean, you know, it did run for a month.
04:29Sales were spread out different categories, which made it really great to operate.
04:33I mean, if we go back to 10 years ago, it was kind of bring your toothbrush and pillow to work because you were there 24 hours around the clock.
04:40This year, the preparations, the AI, just the assistance in general and efficiencies really kind of made it great for operators and it kind of reduced the stress level on people's operations.
04:50So that was great.
04:51And we'd expect that to continue on into next year.
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