Singles’ Day sales skyrocket on e-commerce platforms

Singapore’s Lazada saw the number of orders in the first hour of the day doubling from the same day last year. In the first two hours, the platform sold 20,000 smartphones, 3,000 TVs and 50,000 food coupons.

The surge in sales came as Lazada offered up to 50 percent discount on 11 million products with the total value of discount codes at VND22 billion ($950,000).

"The end of the year is when businesses need to increase their sales and interaction with customers. That is why we doubled our investment in discounts and free delivery codes on this year’s Singles’ Day," said Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, marketing director at Lazada Vietnam.

Another Singapore-based platform, Shopee, saw a surge in sales of cosmetics, smartphones and top-up cards.

Health and beauty, household and lifestyle, smartphones and parts were the categories most favored by Vietnamese consumers, a company spokesperson said.

In the first eight hours of the day over 4,500 makeup remover products of a French brand were sold, the spokesperson said.

Shopee consumers also took advantage of the discounts to purchase big ticket items like smartphones and motorbikes, with the highest transaction worth VND100 million.

Vietnamese platform Tiki said that its sales doubled from October 10, when another major discount event of the year was held.

"These are positive signs that show the post-pandemic economic recovery. People are starting to shop again," a spokesperson said.

All e-commerce platforms have been promoting their Singles’ Day shopping event on television and social networks. They also used limited time offers, games, livestreaming and musical shows to promote the event.

The value of the Vietnamese e-commerce sector this year has risen 46 percent from last year to $7 billion, according to a recent report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company