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Investing.com-- JD.com shares rose in Hong Kong trade on Monday amid Chinese media reports that the company will begin its ‘Singles Day’ shopping event earlier this year, heralding more sales volumes.
JD.com (HK:9618) (NASDAQ:JD) rose 2.6% to HK$135.80, helping underpin a 1.4% advance in the Hang Seng index. E-commerce rival Alibaba Group rose 3.4%.
Chinese media reported that JD.com will kick off its 2025 Singles Day shopping event from the evening of October 9, two days earlier than last year and the earliest ever for the company.
The event will now begin just after the week-long National Day holiday, with reports stating that JD.com has earmarked 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) for subsidies and promotional offers.
Singles Day is a shopping event that was initially promoted by Alibaba as encouraging single people to pamper themselves in the weeks leading up to November 11. The event has over the years evolved into a weeks-long extravaganza of promotions and discounts across China’s retailers, and is a major revenue driver for the fourth quarter.
E-commerce majors have steadily lengthened the duration of the event in recent years, largely to spur more sales. Singles Day is also regarded as a barometer for Chinese consumer confidence, and has come into increasing focus in recent years amid a broad slowdown in the Chinese economy.
Deep discounts, price cuts, and subsidies are a hallmark of the event, with all major retailers in the country– both online and physical– participating in the event.
For JD, the singles day event is a key driver of its fourth-quarter earnings. The company had logged 20% year-on-year growth in sales during the event in 2024.
Data provider Syntun estimated that total e-commerce sales during the 2024 singles day event surged 26.6% to 1.44 trillion yuan.