China’s Double 11 fest to be next trade test

Double 11 shopping day will be the next test of Australia China trade.

The Double 11 shopping festival, which has become the world’s largest shopping day, was launched 12 years ago in China. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The next test of Australia-China trading ties comes on Wednesday, as Australian cosmetics, healthcare and mother and baby product companies including Suisse, Chemist Warehouse, Mecca and infant formula companies Bubs and Nuchev sell their wares in Alibaba’s annual “Double 11” shopping festival.

While the wine, grain, timber and lobster industries are bracing for tighter import controls from China, sales of Australian products on e-commerce sites such as Alibaba’s Tmall Global and Taobao have continued strongly, according to Alibaba’s Australian chief executive, Maggie Zhou.

Alibaba is hoping that its e-commerce sales bonanza will top last year’s November 11 record sales day of $50bn, with COVID-19 further accelerating online sales among digital-savvy Chinese consumers. “I still see strong demand from Chinese consumers for Australian products,” Ms Zhou said in an interview with The Australian.

“Australian products still have a very good image among Chinese consumers.”

She said she believed it was in commodities where Australian exports to China had been hit.

But so far, sales of Australian goods sold on e-commerce platforms had been holding up well, despite political tensions.

Ms Zhou said the main sectors for Australian companies selling online in China on this year’s Double 11 shopping festival were mother and baby products, including infant formula, vitamins and health supplements and skincare products.

Innovations expected from Australia brands selling into the annual festival this year included cosmetics company Mecca — which is popular with Chinese consumers — partnering with Chinese-Australian artist Louise Zhang and the National Gallery of Victoria to create limited-edition packaging for its products for Chinese consumers.

Ms Zhou said Suisse was seen as the leading brand for nutritional supplements from Australia in the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, Australian companies such as Chemist Warehouse were now well known among Chinese consumers because of their online sales promotions.

Chemist Warehouse co-founder Jack Gance told The Australian recently that the company had sold almost $38m during the Double 11 shopping festival (formerly better known as Singles Day) last year.

Ben Dingle, chief executive of Melbourne-based, ASX-listed goats’ milk infant formula company Nuchev, said there was a growing interest among Chinese mothers in goats’ milk products because it was seen as being easier to digest than cows’ milk and had good nutritional qualities.

He said the popularity of goats’ milk infant formula with Chinese mothers was the major factor driving the company’s sales in China.

Mr Dingle said he thought it was “highly unlikely” that political tensions would affect this sector of the market, given the strong emotional aspect of Chinese mothers wanting to choose the best product for their babies.

“We think it’s highly unlikely that the wants of Chinese mothers for their baby will be tampered with,” he said.

“At the end of the day, if a Chinese mother wants to buy goats’ milk formula for their baby, it will be a challenge if someone wanted to stand in their way.”

Founded in 2016, Nuchev has been exporting its product to China through Australian-based personal shoppers, or daigou, and other e-commerce channels such as Alibaba, for the past few years.

Mr Dingle said Nuchev had been planning for the annual Double 11 festival for the past few months and had launched promotions on the Alibaba platforms from early in November. He said the festival was more of a way to promote the benefits of Nuchev’s goats’ milk-based products to Chinese consumers than for a mass sales opportunity.

Nuchev had already been participating in the live-streaming sales promotion events around the Double 11 festival this year. This included a two-hour live streaming event on Monday night featuring Mr Dingle telling his company’s story, comments from Nuchev’s Chinese-speaking dietitian and several Melbourne-based Chinese mothers talking about the product.

Nuchev’s products are mainly sold in Australia through Coles and Chemist Warehouse and through e-commerce channels into China.

“Goats’ milk-based infant formula is very popular among Chinese mothers because of its digestive benefits and health benefits,” he said.

“We have been promoting ourselves heavily through lives streaming events over the past few days in the lead up to November 11,” Mr Dingle said. “The Double 11 shopping festival is one of the largest promotional opportunities of the year in China.”

Mr Dingle said the use of key opinion leaders such as mothers and healthcare professionals was very important in selling products like infant formula to Chinese consumers.

He said Alibaba had begun allowing some smaller brands to begin their promotion from early November this year to get them a head start on the crowded November 11 sales day. “Wednesday is the key day but a lot of preliminary work has gone into building the success for the day,” he said.

Alibaba’s Ms Zhou said live streaming of videos about products featuring celebrities, company executives and other key influencers was now a key part of e-commerce selling in China.

She said the emphasis this year had shifted from its original description as “Singles Day” to “Double 11”, giving merchants two chances to promote their products with a new sales window between November 1 and 3.

The Double 11 shopping festival, which has become the world’s largest shopping day, was launched 12 years ago in China and initially seen as an opportunity for singles (the date November 11 being made up of four single digits) to buy products for themselves.