L’Oreal, Nestle score big at Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping fest

FILE PHOTO: Staff members are seen at the booth of Nestle promoting its baby food at a maternity and baby industry fair in Beijing

SHANGHAI – Chinese shoppers snapped up food supplements, facial masks and baby milk powder at the world’s largest shopping festival, with brands such as L’Oreal and Nestle among the biggest winners, Alibaba data showed.

The Chinese e-commerce giant’s annual Singles’ Day shopping blitz on Monday brought in a record 268.4 billion yuan ($38.38 billion) in sales, more than six times the amount of online sales made in the United States on Black Friday last year.

It kicked off this year’s 24-hour shopping bonanza with a live performance by U.S. pop star Taylor Swift followed by the live-streamed marketing of over 1,000 brands.

Alibaba said on Tuesday that 299 brands surpassed 100 million yuan in gross merchandise value, among them smartphone makers Huawei Technologies and Apple, LVMH’s Givenchy, home appliance makers Dyson and Philips and sportswear makers Nike and Under Armour .

Food supplements were the most popular import product, while sales of makeup, diapers and face wash were also strong.

Source: iol.co.za