Worried Chinese shoppers scrimp, dimming the appeal of a Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza

HONG KONG — Shoppers in China have been tightening their purse strings, raising questions over how faltering consumer confidence may affect Saturday’s annual Singles’ Day online retail extravaganza. “The hype and excitement around Singles’ Day is sort of over,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group. “Consumers have over the last nine months been getting discounts on a steady day-to-day basis so they aren’t expecting major discounts on Singles’ Day except for consumables,” he said. For the 2023 campaign, Alibaba’s Tmall boasts “Lowest prices on the web,” while e-commerce platform JD.com’s tagline for its Singles’ Day campaign is “Truly cheap.” Rival retailer Pinduoduo’s is “Low prices, every day.” Some of their business strategies helped boost sales. Lu Fei, senior researcher at JD.com’s Consumption and Industry Development Research Institute, said the company’s sales figures showed there was still an “obvious” growth in consumption.