A Black Friday With Booming Online Sales

On the eve of Black Friday, Bianca, a Spanish housewife, received a Christmas tree she had ordered from AliExpress, China’s cross-border e-commerce platform. The man-made Christmas tree, which is nearly 2 meters high, flew more than 10000 kilometers by plane from the factory in Dongguan, China. It took only nine days to get to Bianca’s home.

Bianca was born in Romania. Ten years ago, her mother gave her a Christmas tree as a gift. Ten years on, the tree that accompanied her to Spain is very old and she hopes to buy a new one this year. But the COVID-19 has disrupted her plans: supermarkets are closed, Christmas markets are cancelled, and Christmas trees in offline stores are either dull or expensive.

Bianca turned to AliExpress. She saw a Christmas tree worth more than 300 dollars at a glance, but was embarrassed by the price. “My husband is the only one who supports our family, earning 1100 euros per month. We have to pay off the loan and raise our daughter. We haven’t even spent our honeymoon since we were married for eight years.” Bianca summoned the courage to communicate with the Chinese business. To her surprise, after listening to her story, the business director Wang Quan not only gave her a 50% discount, but also delivered to her by air parcel with free shipping.

The sweeping COVID-19 epidemic makes 2020 particularly special. Many retailers in the United States, including Walmart, Target and Best Buy, announced that they would not open stores on Thanksgiving; Sweden will introduce traffic restrictions during Christmas; most cities in Germany have cancelled Christmas markets.

Overseas, the coronavirus pandemic took a serious blow to the industry, from the manufacturing industry to the retail industry. People have changed their consumption habits, “online shopping” becoming a trend. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the online retailer has become a bigger player in the traditional shopping season such as Black Friday. China’s cross-border e-commerce platforms, represented by AliExpress, have also become the choice of overseas consumers in the year-end shopping season.

On the first day of this year’s Black Friday, the number of orders on AliExpress increased by 1.6 times compared with that of last year with the sales volume rising by 3.5 times. Among all the countries, the sales volume of South Korea increased nearly 15 times, that of Spain increased by 7 times, that of Poland increased by 6 times, and that of France, Russia and Ukraine increased by more than 4 times.

From Singles’ Day to Black Friday, Christmas-related products have been top-selling. The sales of coffee utensils increased by 120%, Christmas dinnerware sets by more than 100%, Christmas lights by nearly 260%, and Christmas toys by more than 500%.

When it comes to Christmas trees, the sales volume on AliExpress increased by more than 40% year-on-year, and the large-scale Christmas trees of more than 1.5 meters accounted for nearly half of the total volume. Wang Quan, a Chinese businessman on AliExpress, has been busy working every day recently and he said: “We have expanded the recruitment of 30 or 40 workers and worked overtime this month to ensure that orders from Europe and South Korea can be delivered on time.”

Shenzhen Fengrui Technology Co., Ltd., which has been operating Christmas products for seven years on AliExpress, has seen sales growth of more than 200% in Spain and France this year. “Trees over 1.5 meters are the most popular. Within 24 hours of the order transaction, the overseas warehouse can arrange the shipment, and it can be delivered to consumers in 3-5 days.” said Li Yuling, head of the company.

Meanwhile, the logistics, payment and other infrastructure of AliExpress are also gradually improved. Alejandro, from Madrid, Spain, received the 55-inch Chinese color TV set purchased on AliExpress in the first five hours of double 11. After Double 11, AliExpress delivered the international package to 18 countries within 7 days. What’s more, relying on the AliExpress logistics line, the large goods, such as motorcycles, sofas, beds and bathtubs, which were difficult for the cross-border shipment, can now be delivered to your door with one click.