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Singles' Day sales began in early October, longest

festival yet

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Major platforms have yet to release detailed sales data

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Alibaba ( BABA ) targets big spenders with subsidies

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JD.com ( JD ) says turnover reaches a 'new high'

By Casey Hall and Sophie Yu

SHANGHAI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - China's Singles' Day sales

festival is coming to a close after more than a month of

promotions on the country's largest e-commerce platforms, which

failed to spark widespread consumer excitement during the

world's largest shopping event.

Consumer malaise in China, stemming from a prolonged

property crisis and concerns about income security, has made it

harder than ever to get people to open their wallets.

In response, retailers have become more aggressive about

year-round discounting, rolled out billions of yuan in consumer

subsidies and coupons and elongated sales events.

Many sites kicked off this year's Singles' Day - which

refers to November 11, or 11.11 - in the first half of October,

making it the longest festival to date.

"It is a mixed bag," said Josh Gardner, CEO of Kung Fu Data,

which manages online stores in China for over a dozen global

fashion and lifestyle brands. "Muted might be a good word to

describe sentiment and sales this Singles' Day period."

"We have some brands that have done extremely well, far

exceeding expectations," he added. "Others are flat or up or

down slightly over last year."

Last year's sales for what was then the longest-ever event -

also called "Double 11" in China - totaled 1.44 trillion yuan

($202 billion), according to Syntun, a data provider.

FEW DETAILS ON PLATFORMS' SALES

While major platforms once held galas to herald the

record-breaking sales that seemed to just roll in year after

year, companies including Alibaba ( BABA ) and JD.com ( JD )

have not disclosed total Singles' Day sales for several years.

On Wednesday, JD.com ( JD ) said its turnover had reached a "new

high," with the number of users placing orders increasing by 40%

and the number of orders increasing by nearly 60%.

On JD.com ( JD ), sales of Bellamy Organic baby products from

Australia, American pet brand Instinct and French skincare from

Avène all increased by over 150% from a year earlier, the

company said.

Alibaba's ( BABA ) Tmall and Taobao platforms are offering Double

11 deals through November 14, but the company has yet to release

any information on their sales performance through the end of

November 11.

Earlier, Alibaba ( BABA ) said 35 brands, including Nike ( NKE ),

L'Oreal and local firms Anta and beauty

upstart Proya, sold more than 100 million yuan worth

of merchandise in the first hour of the sale this year.

Gardner said the Singles' Day "sales spike" is not as strong

as it used to be, but October and November still account for

around 30% to 40% of annual revenue for the brands he manages.

"Up until last year, I would always plan ahead for Double

11, making a list of what to buy, but I didn't do that this

year," said Li Yan, a 45-year-old housewife in Beijing. "It's

just so convenient to buy things anytime now, so I spent the

shopping festival without buying any big-ticket items."

COUPONS FOR BIG SPENDERS, INTERNATIONAL GROWTH

In an effort to entice big spenders to splash out even

more, Alibaba ( BABA ) in October pledged 50 billion yuan in subsidies

specifically for its 53 million 88VIP members.

Last week, the company said among those members, there

was a 39% rise in daily active buyers from a year earlier during

the festival.

"From the merchant perspective, targeting 88VIP consumers is

important because those consumers are high-spend and

high-frequency ... helping sustain consumption at the upper-end

of the market (which) has been resilient," said Jacob Cooke,

co-founder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies.

Alibaba's ( BABA ) Taobao rolled out Singles' Day-related sales in

over 20 countries this year, part of what has been a near

industry-wide push from Chinese e-commerce firms to grow

overseas.

In a Singles' Day report released in late October, Bain

said Chinese e-commerce companies needed to look for global

growth sooner rather than later given the tepid consumer outlook

at home.

In London, Alibaba's ( BABA ) AliExpress hosted a livestream event

featuring Pop Mart ( POPMF ) toys in an event it expected would

sell 10,000 gifts to shoppers following along on the AliExpress

app.