Aussie brands still rule China’s downsized Single’s Day

afr.com:

China’s 15th Single’s Day shopping event may have ended with a sputter, but Australian products from vitamins to infant formula are still hot sellers with shoppers, taking out the top spot in several health and wellness categories.

Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant behind the world’s biggest shopping festival, achieved year-on-year sales growth at the event, which finished on Saturday, but has declined to release its gross merchandise value, a measure of turnover. Rival JD.com reported record orders, without providing specific numbers.

Blackmores China managing director Kitty Liu said the brand improved its ranking in the Tmall vitamin and dietary supplement category at Alibaba’s Single’s Day. Ng Han Guan

For a second year in a row, the shopping festival was more toned down with no celebrity gala to close the event. But while Chinese shoppers’ appetite to keep consuming is suffering from fatigue, Australian brands are still resonating on Taobao and Tmall Global, two of China’s most popular shopping sites.

Australia is regularly among the top 10 countries featured on the cross-border e-commerce platform Tmall Global.

Vitamins players Swisse and Blackmores took out the top spots in the health category this year, with a strong showing from Life-Space. In mother and baby, The a2 Milk Co was a top-three seller, and Maxigenes goat formula and Devondale were also popular.

Single’s Day was once a showcase for over-the-top consumerism, but Alibaba’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand Pier Smulders said Chinese consumers were now craving value – although they were still willing to spend on brands they believed in.

“We have had record growth in GMV, order number and number of merchants compared to last year. We see