An online spend of €34.7 billion for more than a billion orders in just 24 hours: the figures for the 11th edition of Chinese Singles Festival Double Eleven, the world's largest commercial event organized on November 11 by Chinese retail giant Alibaba, broke records again this year.
From vegetables sourced in Yunnan to prestigious French wines, more than one million products from 200,000 brands, of which 22,000 international players, went on sale on the platform. Premium products, particularly popular among Chinese consumers on Singles Day, meant fierce competition for brands. In a bid to stand out from the crowd, 215 luxury houses offered more than 240 limited-edition products conceived specially for the event. "Online consumers are younger today and are very demanding when it comes to premium skincare products, so marketing strategies are becoming more and more complex every year," remarks Thibault Villet, president Asia Pacific for Elizabeth Arden. Brands are therefore doubling down when it comes to creativity to capture the consumer's attention.
This year, the US skincare brand, which has a premium positioning in China, created a Double Eleven box set for its Green Tea range in association with Disney studios for the release of the film Frozen 2. Double Eleven is also a strategic event for Castel Frères, representing 20% of the winegrower's annual online sales. "In China, gifts and their packaging are supremely important. We developed a range called Les Puces de Maison Castel for our shop on Tmall to attract consumers under 30 who are interested in differentiated packaging and launched 10,000 gift boxes for the occasion," notes Xavier Pignel-Dupont, general manager Castel Frères Greater China & Asia Pacific. The 350-gram paper boxes, manufactured by cardboard manufacturer Shenzhen Jiuwei Supply Chain Co Ltd, were printed in four-colour process and feature touches of matte lamination. They were designed at Castel Wine (China) Co, Ltd by Chinese designer Mao Peihong, a graduate of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.
