Spend it again, Sam

Explosive sales on Nov 11 have online retailers hoping that Dec 12 can bring customers back for more, though expectations are modest, Xu Lin reports in Beijing.

Don't be distressed if you had missed the world's largest online shopping spree on Nov 11, when Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group alone reported sales of 19.1 billion yuan ($3.06 billion) on the unofficial "Singles' Day". Chinese e-retailers are keen to have another shopping festival soon - after the spending frenzy that produced about three times the e-commerce sales from the recent Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), or twice the revenue from Cyber Monday (the first Monday after Thanksgiving) in the US market. The next target in China is Dec 12. Unlike Nov 11, which has been mocked as the "11-11" holiday by and for the country's growing single population, "12-12" carries little implication except those auspicious numerals.

But Dec 12 is when most of the coupons issued by e-retailers on Nov 11 will become outdated. That's reason enough for e-retailers to develop it into another shopping spree, even though their expectations will be more modest.