Alibaba Group on Friday opted not to disclose the final sales tally of its annual Singles Day shopping festival for the first time since it started the event in 2009, only saying the results were in line with last year.
Before 2020, the festival was a one-day event.
The e-commerce giant has for over a year toned down hype around the event as Chinese President Xi Jinping increasingly emphasises "common prosperity" - a push that seeks to eliminate growing wealth inequities and clamp down on what the Communist Party sees as excessive behaviours.
It did not hold its usual celebrity-studded gala show this year nor any in-person media events, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Its rival JD (NASDAQ:JD).com did not publish GMV or sales growth rate either following its event's conclusion but did say Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold over 1 billion yuan worth of products in the first minute of the event's final sales period on Thursday evening, which is marked by deeper discounts.
Yang Zengdong, 40, a teacher in Shanghai, said she had second thoughts about participating in Singles Day at all this year, but when the final sales period started on Thursday evening, she ended up purchasing about the same amount as last year.
Source: Investing.com
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