Workers wielding screeching hand-held wood sanders toil overtime in Cheng Huaibao's bunk bed factory, rushing to prepare for the wave of orders. Chandan KHANNA / AFP
Workers wielding screeching hand-held wood sanders toil overtime in Cheng Huaibao's bunk bed factory, rushing to prepare for the wave of orders. Chandan KHANNA / AFP

China’s ‘Single’s Day’ is an e-commerce spectacle with wasteful residue



Workers wielding screeching hand-held wood sanders toil overtime in Cheng Huaibao's bunk bed factory, rushing to prepare for the wave of orders about to break on manufacturing businesses like his across China.

China's November 11 orgy of e-shopping strikes Saturday, with hundreds of millions of consumers expected to seize on promotional discounts to place up to a billion pent-up orders for everything from food to furniture and electronics.

So-called "Double 11", or "Singles Day", is the biggest day of the year for Mr Cheng, accounting for around one-sixth of his annual orders and illustrating the impact that China's years-long e-commerce boom is having right down to some of the country's poorest villages.

Mr Cheng's town of Shaji in eastern Jiangsu province once relied on farming and, later, processing waste plastic.

Today, furniture production fattens wallets in Shaji, one of more than 1,300 communities across China dubbed "Taobao Villages", areas that re-invented themselves as manufacturing bases to supply e-commerce giant Alibaba's Taobao platform.

"It's a new way for people here to make more money and get rich. It has really changed people's fates," said Mr Cheng, 28.

The high-school graduate previously worked in an electronics factory and later sold home appliances.

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In 2010, he scraped together 2,000 yuan and began making children's bunk beds to sell on Taobao.

It was a propitious choice -- in 2016 China relaxed its "one-child policy" to allow families a second child. Bunk beds are suddenly hot.

Mr Cheng says his business is now worth 20 million yuan. He has purchased several homes and parks his Mercedes-Benz and Audi outside a factory that's grown to 25,000 square feet and 200 employees.

"I'm driving a one-million-yuan car. I never dared to dream of such a day before," he said.

Alibaba seized on Double 11 beginning in 2009 as China's online answer to the late-November US "Black Friday" shopping spree, finding a sweet spot combining China's love of a good bargain and the national addiction to smartphones and one-click payments.

Alibaba says Double 11-related sales last year reached US$17.8 billion in gross merchandise value, up 32 per cent from 2015 and roughly equal to the annual GDP of Mozambique.

This year's shopping fest will put an exclamation mark on Alibaba's growing dominance of commerce in China under boss Jack Ma, one of China's richest men.

The company's stock has doubled this year as revenues surged. It recently passed Amazon to reclaim the crown as the world's most valuable e-commerce company.

It is investing heavily in creating an entire user ecosystem encompassing cloud computing, artificial intelligence, automated stores using face-recognition, financial systems, logistics, data, entertainment, and is pushing into overseas markets.

Ma also is touting his latest pet vision, "new retail" -- linking up e-commerce with traditional brick-and-mortar stores as a hedge against a future slowdown in e-commerce growth.

Mr Ma said recently the number of packages processed by China's logistics industry -- fuelled by e-commerce -- will soon reach 100 million per day.

"Ten years from now, we may be faced with one billion packages per day," he added.

But environmentalists complain of the ecological harm and accuse Alibaba of fuelling over-production and over-consumption.

Greenpeace estimates Double 11 deliveries last year produced 130,000 tonnes of packaging waste -- less than 10 percent of which is recycled -- and said e-commerce is actually more carbon-intensive than brick-and-mortar shopping.

"Singles Day is a disaster for the environment. Alibaba isn't doing nearly enough," said Greenpeace East Asia toxics campaigner Nie Li.

Li Chengdong, a Beijing-based independent e-commerce analyst, said that despite appearances, Alibaba's future is uncertain due to tough competition from Chinese rivals like JD.com in e-commerce, and from Tencent in content and online payments, and that e-shopping's growth will slow.

"Alibaba will definitely speed up its overseas expansions. Domestic competition is too fierce," Mr Li said.

"Taobao played a big role in alleviating poverty in the countryside, that's true. But some Taobao villages are not doing as well as before due to competition."

Alibaba estimates "Taobao Villages" nearly doubled in 2016 from the previous year to 1,311, home to more than 300,000 online shops.

Shaji, an otherwise nondescript town of around 60,000 people, is dominated by warehouses and factories geared toward Taobao or companies selling packaging.

The town runs on a unique rhythm, with the streets deserted through much of the day as production is prioritised, followed by a burst of road traffic as shipments flood out.

Cheng admits his margins are shrinking, and that Double 11 does not even actually make him much money due to the cut-throat pricing and growing competition, but he remains upbeat.

"Even though we are under pressure from more merchants, we think there also are more customers now," he said.

"The road ahead remains long and I'm taking it step-by-step."

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Results:

5pm: Baynunah Conditions (UAE bred) Dh80,000 1,400m.

Winner: Al Tiryaq, Dane O’Neill (jockey), Abdullah Al Hammadi (trainer).

5.30pm: Al Zahra Handicap (rated 0-45) Dh 80,000 1,400m:

Winner: Fahadd, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi.

6pm: Al Ras Al Akhdar Maiden Dh80,000 1,600m.

Winner: Jaahiz, Jesus Rosales, Eric Lemartinel.

6.30pm: Al Reem Island Handicap Dh90,000 1,600m.

Winner: AF Al Jahed, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel.

7pm: Al Khubairah Handicap (TB) 100,000 2,200m.

Winner: Empoli, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

7.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap Dh80,000 2,200m.

Winner: Shivan OA, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush

Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”

A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.

“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”

Cinco in numbers

Dh3.7 million

The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown

46

The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.

1,000

The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]

50

How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday

3,000

The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

1.1 million

The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

Company profile

Name: Infinite8

Based: Dubai

Launch year: 2017

Number of employees: 90

Sector: Online gaming industry

Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor

THE SPECS

Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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