Alibaba is experiencing the slowest growth rate ever

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Delivery staff sort parcels during Singles Day in Beijing

Photo: TINGSHU WANG / REUTERS

The world's largest discount battle in China has set major online retailers such as Alibaba and JD.com again sales records this year, but sales are growing far less than in previous years.

The Chinese e-commerce magnate Alibaba in particular had to back down.

During the eleven-day campaign until 11.11.

the group achieved a sales increase of 8.45 percent to the equivalent of 73 billion euros.

This is the lowest growth rate of all time for the company, which achieved growth of 26 percent on the so-called "Singles Day" last year.

Tighter regulation and headwinds from supply chain problems are causing problems for China's tech companies.

Overall consumption in China is also slowing down overall.

At the same time, there was less advertising about the event and more sustainability was emphasized.

The Internet provider JD.com reported an increase of 28.6 percent to the equivalent of 47 billion euros in sales compared to the previous year at the shopping event.

Alibaba started the 2009 annual shopping festival with special offers and hefty discounts.

Competitors followed suit.

Originally, “Singles Day” on November 11th was considered a kind of anti-Valentine's Day for singles among China's students, because the date consists of only ones.

Because of its great success, the discount battle was finally extended to eleven days.

Since Alibaba started the festival, sales have grown in double digits every year, making it the world's largest online sales festival, dwarfing the similar discount battle "Cyber ​​Monday" in the United States.

After billions in fines, more social tones are struck

The shopping festival has become a highly regarded indicator of consumer sentiment in the world's second largest economy.

This year, in the final hours of the Thursday event, Alibaba downplayed its sales numbers and highlighted its social initiatives, changing the tone of the event.

For example, the company did not keep a continuous listing of transactions, which had been the focus of previous years.

Instead, the company referred to a fundraiser for an elephant sanctuary in rural southwest China.

The e-commerce giant has probably also weakened the marketing hype with a view to the ongoing tightening of regulations by the Chinese authorities. The e-commerce giant was fined a billion-dollar record for monopoly behavior in April, and its founder Jack Ma, China's best-known entrepreneur, pulled out of the public eye after criticizing Chinese regulators a year ago.

While Alibaba has been promoting washing machines, smartphones, and makeup to consumers in the past, the company now also unveiled a program to help people with disabilities buy clothes and promote the use of environmentally friendly packaging.

Nevertheless, the business at the shopping event should have paid off for the companies: Alibaba announced that almost 400 brands, including Apple and L'Oreal, had each achieved sales of more than 13 million euros by Thursday noon.

kig / Reuters / dpa-AFX