As many of you are aware, Cyber Monday is a marketing campaign started in United States since 2005 to stimulate online shopping during the year end holiday season.
As many of you are aware, Cyber Monday is a marketing campaign started in United States since 2005 to stimulate online shopping during the year end holiday season. To be exact, it is being held on the Monday after Black Friday, usually during end November or early December.
It has been gaining popularity in Canada, UK, Portugal, Germany, Chile, Columbia and Japan. But, how about other Asian countries besides Japan?
We have observed that year end holiday season comes a little earlier in Asia, from China to Southeast Asia countries, coincidentally most of them started from 11 November, and it falls on Monday too this year.
China: "Double Eleven" 11.11 by Tmall and Taobao
11 November has been known as "Single Day" in China, and Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao have taken this opportunity to launch their very own Cyber Monday, and beat Cyber Monday in US on total online sales transactions in a single day.
For the record, Tmall and Taobao marketplaces collectively achieved a world-record US$3 billion in sales during 11 November 2012, which could be more than double of Cyber Monday's achievement.
How about this year in 2013? They are expecting a whopping US$4.9 billion sales in a single day!
Can you imagine how big it is? Let's do a quick comparison, Malaysia's e-commerce market size is estimated to be in the region of US$500 million in 2013 (refer e-commerce statistics of Malaysia, products only excluding services). That means, it will take 10x years of total transactions of every online marketplaces and retailers combined in Malaysia to achieve the 11.11 one-day-only sales volume of Tmall and Tabao!
On another note, Alibaba is launching 11.11 in Southeast Asia for the first time this year, besides Hong Kong and Taiwan. Interestingly, about 1,000 of 20,000 Tmall merchants are participating in this international campaign, riding on Alibaba's newly launched parcel-forwarding service.
Southeast Asia: Online Revolution by Lazada
Not surprisingly, Rocket Internet's Lazada (together with Zalora) is launching its own Cyber Monday in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, on 11 November this year too.
However, Lazada's Online Revolution is a month-long campaign rather than a single day sale event.
One of the highlights of the campaign in Lazada Malaysia is, every week, customers will be offered 111 great deals with amazing discounts, on products that range from mobiles, tablets to fashion and home & living.
Southeast Asia: Rakuten Super Sale
Meanwhile, Lazada's competitor in the region - Rakuten is also launching its flagship Super Sale campaign for the first time in Malaysia, which also starts from 11 November.
It claims to offer up to 50% off on thousands of products, and running over a period of 10 days.
Rakuten is also expected to launch its Super Sale in Indonesia and Thailand coming December, in comparison to Lazada's concurrent launches in every of its Southeast Asia businesses which might have gain better publicity collectively in the region.
Thailand Special: Online Mega Sale
It is quite interesting to find out about the inaugural Thailand Online Mega Sale which is organized by Thailand E-Commerce Association instead of individual marketplace owner.
The Thai version of Cyber Monday is expected to drive close to US$16 million online sales (source) in 8 days campaign, starting from 26 November this year.
Online marketplaces and retailers in Thailand are encouraged to join this campaign by offering good deals, in which they will be featured in the Thailand Online Mega Sale main portal. According to our findings, Thailand E-Commerce Association has secured marketing budget from the government to increase public awareness and drive traffic to this main portal.
That's interesting, don't you think so? #DoMoreLah
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