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Author: Dan Gendro

Singles Day mobile commerce could be huge at Alibaba

Dan Gendro | November 9, 2016

The Chinese mega-giant company has worked hard to broaden its global reach this year.

Singles Day mobile commerce predictions continue to roll in as the big day approaches on November 11. Alibaba has made tremendous efforts to help to bolster its own successes on this unique Chinese day. At the same time, it is hoping to encourage a growing number of consumers to participate.

That said, most analytics firms have agreed that the participation in Singles Day 2016 should break records.

Millions of people have already been making Singles Day mobile commerce purchases. Alibaba’s CEO, Jack Ma, is hoping to be able to use this m-commerce trend to achieve greater results outside of China, as well. Though Singles Day was invented in China and is celebrated primarily there, Alibaba is looking to use it as a jumping off point.

Singles Day Mobile Commerce - Mobile Shopping November 11 is Veterans day in the United States. This makes it unlikely to be a great date to try to carry Singles Day over to this part of the world. That said, the company is hoping to keep the shopping momentum going in the US as the holiday season follows closely on its heels.

Singles Day mobile commerce is a more recent phenomenon that started over desktop in 1993.

The day was created by a group of male Nanjing University students. They decided that 11/11 was the perfect numerical date to represent a celebration of being single. Though it had a slow start and was limited to a small local movement over e-commerce, Alibaba made it big. The company decided to take hold of the movement, which saw growing popularity, and monetize it.

By 2009, the company’s massive e-commerce platforms, Taobao and Tmall, were raking in cash through online purchases. The first Singles Day observance brought an estimated $7 million in sales. Even in a market the size of China, that figure is impressive, though not at all tremendous. By 2010, far more retaielers were on board, including one of the main rivals of Alibaba in China, JD.com.

The next year, Alibaba alone generated $820 million in sales. By last year, that figure had risen to $9.3 billion, credited greatly to Singles Day mobile commerce trends. Since 2012 the sales have been greater than those seen on Cyber Monday in the United States and it is expected that they will be even higher this year.

Alibaba’s slice of the mobile ad market to rise this year

Dan Gendro | October 27, 2016

Despite its declining hold on the global digital ad marketplace as a whole, smaller screen marketing is up.

Online commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Inc., may find its global mobile ad market share climbing higher this year. This, despite the fact that the company’s grip on the digital advertising space is starting to slide.

eMarketer’s data shows the Chinese ecommerce giant will have a smaller portion of global digital ad spend.

The research firm’s prediction is that the digital ad spend drop will be around 0.9 percent to 4.6 percent in 2016 compared to the figures from 2015. That said, the mobile ad market share will be climbing at the same time. That increase will be significant, as its share will rise to 10.9 percent. Last year, that figure had been 8.7 percent.

In the Chinese market, Alibaba will continue to be the leading player in both those markets. The massive company will hold onto 39.7 percent of the tremendous $27.9 billion Chinese market for mobile advertising. Furthermore, it will boost its share of digital ad spend to 28.9 percent. That is an increase of nearly 4 percent compared to 2015.

The strength in the mobile ad market share growth is due to the company’s customer retention strategy.

Andria Chen, an eMarketer analyst, explained that the company’s strategy to hold consumers within its entertainment and online ecosystem explain its mobile ad success. The company has been acquiring several different companies within those spaces.

For instance, Alibaba purchased the Youku Tudou video streaming platform in 2016. According to eMarketer, that particular purchase may “aid sales growth” for Alibaba during this quarter. It may also help the company to assemble more complete user profiles.

Furthermore, the ecommerce giant has also made investments in a number of other areas supporting growth. For example, it has raised capital for an affiliate platform for local services called Koubei. The funds came from international investors. Equally, it invested more in building out logistics operations within locations such as villages and towns that are not yet easily accessible. It’s easy to see that the company is seeking to amp up its share in more than just the mobile ad market.