Singles’Day Shopping Spree

The world may have observed an online shopping frenzy on November 11 in China， similar to Americas Black Friday， but already much larger. The growth in online purchases over the last few years on the Singles Day （11.11） has been phenomenal.

The mega-discount shopping activity， largely based on e-commerce giant Alibabas Tmall.com and Taobao.com， makes it possible for global commodities and logistics to move across the planet through electronic platforms. This is nothing less than a feast for retailers and consumers.

Statistics showed total online sales hit a whopping 120.7 billion yuan （$17.8 billion） as the clock struck midnight， 32 percent up on last years count. Apart from Alibaba， other ebusiness platforms like JD.com， Suning.com and Kaola.com all harvested much higher transaction volumes compared to last years Double Eleven.

Online shopping has long become an alternative consumer channel to the traditional brick-and-mortar stores of the retailing sector. Based on current trends， the former is poised to surpass the latter in the coming years. SinglesDay is an opportune moment for tech-savvy netizens to fish for bargains.

The rapid boost in online consumerism is also attracting greater attention from relevant watchdogs. The Chinese Government has issued policies to promote the Internet Plus strategy—the integration of the Internet with traditional industries， the development of big data and cutting data access fees， laying a foundation for the popularization of e-business transactions.

This Double Eleven spending spree saw an unprecedented number of retailers， consumers and logistics firms getting involved. In contrast with the rejoicing retailers and excited consumers snapping up goods within seconds， watchdogs are taking precautions against potentially chaotic online shopping. Cracking down on fake and poor-quality commodities has been the focus of their supervision.

A number of systems have been established to regulate online shopping， including punishing dishonest online retailers. But even these measures are unable to fix some of the tricks of the trade， as some retailers resort to selling fake and unqualified commodities， both at home and abroad. How to safeguard their legitimate rights in the case of after-sales disputes is something consumers need to think about.

However， Double Eleven has become a festival for online shoppers， and the acquisition of discounted goods on this day will not change because of a few teething problems in the shopping model. We can probably expect an even“hotter” Double Eleven in 2017.