The two engines of sustainable yet booming consumption

What started as a mere internet joke based on the day's "four-single-person" date in 2009 when Alibaba managed to register a one-day sales of 52 million yuan ($7.83 million) has this year helped the Chinese e-commerce giant to record sales of a jaw-dropping 168.2 billion yuan, 39.3 percent more than last year.

China's Singles Day shopping bonanza on Nov 11 is now the largest of its kind in the world, and this year's record sales may one day allow historians to find an interesting footnote in the gradual and accelerating shift of global economic gravity toward the East.

As Chinese consumers' propensity to spend more becomes increasingly manifest, one key engine to boost consumption growth already seems to be in place.